Dear Brothers and Sisters:
We celebrate the great feast of Pentecost today and we close the Easter season. This feast leads us to reflect again on the Church’s missionary spirit. Pentecost was a Jewish agricultural feast to give thanks for the first fruits of the harvest. Pentecost then, and now, celebrates the first fruits of Easter, of the Resurrection. Not only did they receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit but they were sent out to announce the Gospel to all the nations.
God had a marvelous plan for man at the beginning of creation. However, our first parents distorted it by listening to the lies of the serpent. In this wound the unity and peace God wanted for man was lost. Man’s pride is typified by the story of Babel where man tried to build a tower to make a name for himself, and God turned this around on them and confused their language and scattered them. God desired unity, but sin leads to discord. God wants us to humbly care for one another and pride leads us to build a tower and make a name for ourselves. God wants us to go out and serve others; fear leads us to look only for me, it turns us inward. These weaknesses are still with us today.
Pentecost makes it possible for the disciples and us to do a 180 degree turn. This feast shows that God can right any wrong, today, in your life. The Church receives the power of the Holy Spirit today and restores everything to man. What was impossible for you before God will make it easy, no matter what the difficulty.
All began to speak as the Spirit enabled them. Before this feast fear dominated them and now they showed incredible courage. They spoke boldly and shared God’s love for all. Their pride made them fight against God, but today they heard each other speaking their own language. The Spirit creates unity. Babel is turned into harmony, and they all speak of the might works of God. Before they boasted of themselves, now they boast of God! The pride of Babel was replaced with the humility of Pentecost. Let us pray that he bring about unity in our parish, in our families and among all Christians.
If God did not confuse the language of the people of Babel they would think: “I can do anything!” This is America and we are can do people. Our pride is enormous at times and it is an unhealthy obsession with our own accomplishments. If nothing is beyond my own reach why do I need God? If I am so self-sufficient who needs help from the Church; I do my own life. Many people think this way today. Maybe they don’t say it outright or even deny it, but their actions speak of this mentality. And so God allows something in their life to help them see that they are not God and that they need help. This is when the Holy Spirit can come to them.
Ask for the Holy Spirit to help you to forgive, to not be afraid of anything, to have the courage to speak of Jesus Christ and what he has done for you. The Holy Spirit will give you wisdom and understanding.
Pentecost is the birth of the Church. Call upon the Holy Spirit to wash what is stained in your lives, and to unite all of us in our common mission of making disciples of all the nations.