PENTECOST:

Acts 2:1-11 Galatians 5: 16-25 John 15: 26-27, 16:12-15

The Pentecost scene, in the Acts of the Apostles, is full of colour. People have gathered from all the world as it was known at that time. It seems like a Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza. There were colourful costumes, strange languages, exotic smells of different cookings, beautiful jewellery on beautiful women from so many different ethnic groups. They had all come down for their big festival. Then the Holy Spirit comes down on them with Wind, Ai r and Fire. It looks like the grand finale of Cirque de Soleil.

The Holy Spirit comes down and the Apostles speak in languages which everyone can understand. People accuse them of being drunk. The excuse of Peter, that it is only 9:00 in the morning, does not hold good in our age. The Saturday night revellers are just coming home at that ungodly hour.

However, this IS the hour of the Spirit, not the one that comes from the 40 ounce bottle, but

• the same Holy Spirit that hovered over the earth at the beginning of creation.
• It is the same Spirit that gave life to man, as God breathed into the nostrils (what an intimate gesture) of man formed from clay.
• It is the same Holy Spirit that was present when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
• It is the same Holy Spirit, that came down in the form of a dove at the time of the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.

In the second reading from the letter to the Galatians Paul will tell us that the fruits of the Spirit love, joy, peace and then some more. It is a Spirit very relevant and very needed in our times,

When the Tamil civilians are being bombed in Sri Lanka

When North Korea continues to test Nuclear weapons and threaten violence

When the settlements are continually built on the West Bank in Gaza.

When the Taliban are still bombing Afghanistan

These make the papers and TV news. The tragedies of our personal lives are known to God alone and our immediate families.

Unfortunately, as Fr. Scott Lewis says, the Holy Spirit remains a theological concept or an article of faith, rather than a living vibrant experience of new life in the Kingdom of God.

Our Gospel for Pentecost had two choices: one the Resurrection as related by John. This included the Ascension and the Gift of the Holy Spirit as well. This was accompanied by the gift of Peace and the Gift of Forgiveness. However, the promise of the Holy Spirit in the farewell speech at the Last Supper gives us a fuller picture of the Work of the Holy spirit.

In the first place the Holy Spirit would bear Witness or Testimony to the works of Jesus. It would also be a blueprint or model for the Apostles as they are called to witness to Jesus after the resurrection. They would proclaim that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Two thousand years down the line, we too are called to the same witness by the ways we live our lives our in the Joy and certainty that Christ has truly risen. We are called to embody the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the second reading: Galatians 5:22.

Secondly, the Spirit would convict the world about Sin, Righteousness and Judgment. These verses are missing in the shortened version of the reading. Sin, Righteousness and Judgment would all have to do with the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the People of Israel failed to accept that.

• Sin. Their sin was NOT the fact that they put Jesus to death. They sinned because there were all the signs and prophets pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, but yet the People of Israel did not accept him as Messiah.
• Righteousness. The people of Israel thought they were right in putting Jesus to death because he claimed to be equal to the Father, because he said that the Sabbath was made for humans and not the other way around. And these claims were true. Their righteousness was misguided.
• Judgment. Judgment will not condemn those who fail to keep the 613 Pharisaic laws. But judgment will rather on those who fail to accept Jesus as a Messiah. For us, judgment will condemn us for not trusting in the power and victory of Jesus. We think that we can and will attain heaven by our good works, by our litany of prayers, by our fasting and penance. Good as these are, we must realise that eternal life will always be a free gift.

Thirdly, The Spirit will guide the Apostles into all truth. He will also declare to you the things that are to come. In our day and ages we have enough of false prophets who tell us that the end of the world is at hand. They are prophets of doom and destruction. Jesus warned us that there would such as these. Hence we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in what is true, we have the Holy Spirit who will help us to separate the false from the true predictions of the dangers that are to come.

And so we welcome the Holy spirit to come and fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Divine love. The Spirit, we invite, will heal our planet and restore us to the unity with the Father, for which Jesus prayed.