Happy Pentecost!
Happy Birthday Catholic Church!
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| John 20: 19-23 |
Today Catholics throughout the world celebrate a special day or feast day called “Pentecost”; Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church! The word Pentecost means ‘the 50th day’ (think pentagon) and celebrates 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead at Easter. It was on the 50th day after Easter when Jesus appeared to the Apostles who were hiding in a locked room for fear they would be killed. Jesus appeared to them, calmed their fears and shame saying Peace be with you and gave the Holy Spirit to His Apostles by breathing on them. The word ‘Spirit’ means ‘breath’ and Jesus gives us God’s own breath, the Holy Spirit, to be with us always. Every time we take a physical breath in and out we can be reminded that it is God’s Spirit in our bodies and our souls that gives us life.
When Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the Apostles He was commissioning them with a special purpose; this is the beginning of the Catholic Church. Before He breathed on them He said, As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Jesus said Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. What is Jesus sending them to do? Not only to bring healing to others by forgiving sins but as we heard in the Gospel last week, before Jesus ascended to the Father in Heaven he told his Apostles, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus sends his disciples, ourselves included, to bring the Good News to everyone we meet and promised that we will not go alone, but that He will be with us always. Jesus fulfills that promise by giving us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The Presence of the Holy Spirit guides each of us and guides the Church. No matter if we or others make mistakes we know that God does not and that the presence of the Holy Spirit leads us even through challenging times.
In the Sacrament of Confirmation we enter more deeply into being a follower of Jesus by receiving from a successor of the Apostles (a Bishop) what Jesus gave to the Apostles and has been passed down for nearly 2,000 years: the Holy Spirit. Like the Apostles we too are commissioned to bring the transforming love of Jesus to our world. In our Sacraments and prayer we ask the Spirit of God to come and dwell with us (this is called epiclesis). Through the presence of God’s Spirit, his breath, God is always with his Church (each of us) as He promised.
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