May 19, 2024

Dear Parishioners,

Peace and joy be with you all on this great Solemnity of Pentecost!

I recently came across a quote about Pentecost that I wanted to share with you. It was penned by a twelfth century poet and composer of hymns, Adam of St. Victor. It is taken from his work Lux jucunda lux insignis.
  Today is indeed a day delightful, a propitious day, often termed the birthday of the Church. Mary and the disciples were gathered in the upper room, still fearful, praying together assiduously since the Lord ascended. On that day they experienced the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that changed everything. Moved by the Spirit, Peter and the others transcended their fears and began to proclaim the “mighty acts of God” in a way so powerful that peoples from all over the Mediterranean world heard them “speaking in our own tongues.” Jesus has promised to send the Spirit, the Advocate, as we hear in today’s selection from the Gospel of John, though when he made that promise the disciples had no inkling of its significance. Thus begins the history of the Church. Now the gift of the Holy Spirit did not mean there were no problems. One of the things I love about the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of the New Testament is that they do not sugarcoat the ups and downs and struggles of the first generation of Christians. There were misunderstandings galore, including quarrels rooted in differences of culture and language much as we can still have in our own day (Acts 6:1-7). There were those who, like Simon Magus, tried to buy the gift of God with money (Acts 8:9-25). Persecutions scattered the disciples (Acts 8:1-3). Peter was criticized for having associated with and baptized uncircumcised persons and had to defend his actions (Acts 11:1-18). On another occasion Paul had to reprimand Peter for caving into criticism and acting hypocritically (Galatians 2:11-21). Paul and Barnabas, who had been great partners in mission, came to such a sharp disagreement that they went their separate ways (Acts 15: 36-41). So when we hear of struggles and disputes in the Church now in the early twenty-first century, we need not be surprised. This is nothing new. Yet, despite human weakness, despite sinfulness and scandals, despite many failures, Jesus’ promise of the Spirit’s presence and guidance has been fulfilled. That is what we celebrate today. Pentecost is not simply a past event, but an ongoing reality. Today we pray that we will not close ourselves to the guidance of the Spirit. We pray for a flowering of those gifts of wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge and piety and reverential fear of the Lord that will keep us faithful to our identity as disciples and our mission of witnessing to the risen Lord! Jesus, send your Spirit upon us! Holy Mary, temple of the Holy Spirit, pray for us!