PENTECOST (B)

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-11

Before Jesus was taken up to heaven, he gave his apostles this instruction: “And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high (Lk 24:49)."

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “power”. This means that the Holy Spirit would give the apostles the ability to do something which they by themselves can not do.

The New Testament reports two occasions when the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And in both occasions we see the Holy Spirit giving power to the apostles.

The first occasion was on the evening of Easter Sunday itself. We read in John’s gospel: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained (Jn 20: 22-23)." With the sending of the Holy Spirit, the apostles were given the power to forgive sins.

The second occasion reported happened during the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given in a dramatic way. First, there was a mighty wind coming from the sky and filling the house. Then there appeared tongues of fire that rested on each of those present. Clothed with the Holy Spirit the apostles were transformed into men of great courage. They went out of hiding. Then they were given the power to preach and to do so in different languages so that Jews from different parts of the world who were in Jerusalem on pilgrimage could understand them.

The Holy Spirit continues to be present today to be our companion. In fact, Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (Jn 14:16).

Our confirmation is our personal Pentecost. It means that just as the apostles received the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, in the same way we also receive the Holy Spirit on our confirmation day. And just as the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the power to witness to Jesus Christ so also the Holy Spirit gives to us the same power.

Our witnessing to Jesus may take different forms. It may be through the spoken word or through the written word. It may be through good example.

There is a short prayer to the Holy Spirit that expresses another power of the Holy Spirit: “Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.” The charismatic renewal is a dramatic expression of the power of the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.

This does not mean that renewal happens only within the charismatic renewal. The Holy Spirit can touch the heart of anyone and if that person responds positively to the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit can transform that person. Some would call this transformation his second conversion.

Have you ever experienced wanting to pray but not succeeding? We may not know what to say. Or we might have started to pray but end up thinking of other things because of distractions. Or we don’t feel like praying at all. The Holy Spirit can come to our rescue. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes: “In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26). The Holy Spirit can give us the ability to pray.