Pentecost 25, John
20:19-23- "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit!"
A young boy went to
market on his bicycle in order to buy something. But there was simply no place
to park in his bicycle. So he went to a nearby church and made a request to the
parish priest. The priest granted it without any hesitation.
“Is it safe here,
Father?” the boy asked the priest and concerned that someone might steal his
bicycle.
“Of course,” said the
priest. “The Holy Spirit will keep watch over your bike. But first, let’s go
inside the church and pray.”
They kneel down and
making the sign of the cross, the boy said: “In the name of the Father and of
the Son. Amen.”
The priest interrupted
him. “You forgot the last part, ‘and of the Holy Spirit’ son?”
The boy replied: “We
should not disturb the Holy Spirit. He is watching over my bike!”
Dear friends, the Holy
Spirit not only watching over his cycle, but everything and everyone. He takes
care of all of us. But we should have a desire and faith that he is living and
active…
From the readings, we
heard of the account of what had happened at the moment of that Pentecost, when
the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and disciples, strengthening and
rejuvenating them all with hope and great courage,
And Holy spirit is given
to all who call upon the lord. He told the disciples to wait in the upper room,
pray and prepare…if you have done this, you also will get it.
St. Paul the Apostle
spoke to the faithful people of God in Rome referring to the Holy Spirit that
has been given to all of the faithful, calling on all of them to holiness and
to live their lives in accordance to the way of the Lord and strive to live in
the manner that is worthy of the Lord, following His examples and the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit at all times, keeping ourselves away from the
wickedness of the world and from all the sins and darkness present all around
us.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
We know that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is
the Love of the Father and the Son, present within God the Father and God the
Son from all eternity.
Anyone who desires for
the helper…God will provide. Because it’s the promise of the Lord…
At the Last Supper, Jesus
tells them that He will send a gift from the Father, the greatest of all gifts
and that is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus knew that his
disciples would need the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission
entrusted to them. That is why Jesus instructed the apostles to wait in
Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49).
Why
did they need power from on high? The Gospels tell
us that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was baptized at the
Jordan River:
"And John bore
witness, 'I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on
him... this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit'" (John
1:32,33; Mark 1:8; Matthew 3:11).
"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty
days in the wilderness... and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into
Galilee" (Luke 4:1,14).
Just as Jesus was
anointed with the Spirit at the beginning of his ministry, so the disciples
needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission entrusted to
them by Jesus.
-At the time of the
ascension Jesus had given his disciples the clear mandate, “Go into all the
world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation.” Jesus had also urged his
disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the
Father. The promise of the Father for which Jesus wanted his disciples to wait
in Jerusalem was the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Feast of Pentecost
reminds us of a day when the Church began Her journey. It was in that room, in
Sehion, that the Holy Spirit transformed the disciples into great apostles.
The apostles had a
fearful past—shy to talk about Jesus, closing themselves off in a room. But
Jesus stood among them and breathed on them, telling them to receive the Holy
Spirit. This breath gave them new life…
This breath is the Holy
Spirit.
Jesus promises in Luke
11:13, “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him?” On this Feast of Pentecost, let us deeply desire
the breath of Jesus and live a Spirit-filled life.
The Pentecost experience
is rooted in a relationship with Jesus.
Before Pentecost, the
disciples gathered in unity and waited in prayer, just as Jesus instructed (see
Acts 1:4,14).
They were in the upper
room…?
Not in the down room
because it has a lot of distractions, but in the upper room- it’s a place of peace,
it’s a place where Jesus celebrated last supper, washed their legs, it gives
them a lot of memories…
Acts 1:8- you will be my
witnesses till the end of the world. We r called to become his witnesses
Acts 1:14- they were
staying together in prayer having one mind…
If you don’t have fire in
you, you also won’t be able to give it to others.
1. From Fear to Courage- Are
we hiding today — behind our doubts, our sins, our worries? Pentecost reminds
us that the Holy Spirit is not far. He is near, ready to breathe new life and
courage into us.
-If you are filled with
the Holy Spirit, your fear will go away…that’s why Peter does on the day of the
Pentecost filled with the Holy Spirit
In Acts 2:38,
Peter told the crowd to “repent and be baptized… and you will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Unity in Diversity- People
hearing the apostles in their own languages. — a divine sign that God’s message
is for everyone. Each person hears in their own way, and yet the message is
one: Jesus is Lord.
The event:
On the day of Pentecost
1)
The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary as
fiery tongues. 2) The frightened apostles were transformed into fiery
preachers and evangelizers and were given the gift of tongues by a special
anointing of the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit,
who makes our faith strong, -The frightened disciples changed after receiving
the Holy Spirit -Peter’s sermon which resulted in the conversion and baptism of
about 3000 people
People are identified by
the language they speak. English, French, Chinese, German, Hindi, etc. In India
we have many languages. The disciples spoke in their language but everybody
could understand them…
What is the language of
Christians?
The story of Babel, where
the language was scattered, and here one language unites them…?
3. We Are Sent- In
the Gospel, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The
Spirit is not given just for comfort, but for mission. This means
Pentecost is not just a past event — it’s a present calling. Every one of us,
baptized and confirmed, has received the Holy Spirit and is sent into the
world: into our families, schools, workplaces, and communities — as bearers of
God’s love and truth.
An old beggar-man lay on
his deathbed. As he was departing from this world, his last words to his only
son who had been a constant companion during his begging trips were: “Dear
son,” he said, “I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze
bowl which I got in my younger days from the junkyard of a rich lady.”
After the death of his
father, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him. One
day, a gold merchant dropped a coin in this boy’s bowl. >> The merchant
was, however, surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound. “Let me check your
bowl,” the merchant said. To his great surprise, he found that the beggar boy’s
bowl was made of pure gold. “My dear young man,” he said, “why do you waste
your time begging? That bowl of yours is made of gold! >> It is worth a
huge amount of money! Realize that you are a rich man. Be aware of the worth of
the treasure that is with you, and live a life worthy of it!”
John 20,21: " As the
Father has sent me, even so I send you".
Our life - whoever we
are, whatever we are doing - is a continuation of the Mission of Jesus.
You are given this power,
the gift of the Holy Spirit that you may share it with everyone. Jesus said,
‘Go to the ends of the Earth…which means, everyone should know the intervention
of God how he acts in the life of human beings
