Pentecost Sunday - Year C - 23 May 2010

The Birthday of the Church

The solemn Feast of Pentecost is a most important celebration in our Church calendar. Second in importance only to Easter, Pentecost is the birthday of the church. Pentecost (fiftieth day after Easter) commemorates the occasion on which the Holy Spirit came down upon Apostles, empowering them to bear witness to their faith. The Acts of the Apostles recounts the extraordinary success which the Apostles experience in attracting new members to the faith. All this success was attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit poured out into their lives on Pentecost.

As we remember the Holy Spirit. We think of God's remarkable presence in our hearts, in the very centre of our being. Someone who knows us better than we know ourselves; as St Paul tells us in Romans: 'The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God.' (8.16) Just think of that. The Spirit of God, alive and active, quick and subtle, working on our spirit to draw us deeper into the life and grace of God. Here we are free, and in our freedom God inspires, challenges and speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is not given to us so that we can sit down in our living rooms and enjoy our 'spirituality' or private prayer. The Spirit is given for a purpose. The gift of the Spirit, as today's readings present it, sends us on a mission.

A mission to where, to whom? What are the objectives? Is it like the diplomats going to Iraq, or astronauts to the space station, or researchers searching for an AIDS vaccine? Our mission doesn't have to be that complicated or high-powered.

How does a mission to embody God's compassion within our family circle sound? What about a mission to be patient and merciful with our co-workers? A mission to share the resources we have with those who lack the basics? A mission to spend a few hours a week as a volunteer? A mission to shape the society we live in by letting our elected representatives know where we stand?

We don't have rushing winds and tongues of fire today. We celebrate something more ordinary but no less miraculous: the breath of God. Steady, constant, animating our every action, if we let it. Day in, day out, God's breath flows through us. Day in, day out, it keeps us going, fills us with vitality so that we, too, may be His witnesses toward all we meet.