It was tradition at the seminary. Every year, roughly the time we started the academic year, we would have what we called the Mass of the Holy Spirit. It was one of the very first liturgies that we would celebrate as a community, and it was often filled with a lot of pomp and circumstance. We had incense, we would have all the classic hymns that you’d expect to hear. The bishop and all of the priests would be vested in these brilliant red vestments, and of course there was a banquet afterwards.
However, early on in my seminary education- it seemed a bit odd. Why all the pomp and circumstance? Why do we need this Mass at the very beginning of the year, celebrating the Holy Spirit? Don’t we celebrate Him all the time? Actually, in time, I began to figure out why. It was not about just the Holy Spirit- but about what the Holy Spirit would do. How we were expected to rely upon this Third Person of the Trinity to fill our minds, our hearts, and our souls with grace, specifically with wisdom and knowledge as we went about our studies. All of these gifts were so important and so necessary- and we were getting ready to embark on a year when we would need all of the gifts we could muster. It wasn’t for the outset of the year- it was for when we needed it most.
We may not often think about the Holy Spirit and just how much it is intertwined with our spiritual lives and wants to give us the grace that we need- specifically in the moments we need it most- and yet it is a powerful force that is with us at all times. As we celebrate the feast of Pentecost- that day when the disciples received the gift of the Spirit- we stop to celebrate not only the Holy Spirit, but what it enables us to do- and how it seeks to fill our hearts and minds with the glory of God- and divine aid when we need it most.
To start off our celebrations of this Pentecost- we hear from the book of the Acts of the Apostles one more time during the Easter season as we come to a close. We are given an image of the disciples who are all gathered together in one place- and eventually- there comes a driving wind and this wind fills the entire house where they are. There appears over their heads tongues of flame- and these come to rest on each of them, as they are filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The gift of the Spirit becomes very evident in the results and the fruit of what begins to occur- the disciples are all of a sudden able to speak in tongues- as the spirit enabled them to do. Notice as well- the disciples were all in one place together- and they are eventually sent out to speak to every land and people- so that they can all hear the good news- and in their own native tongue. This truly is an event that is unusual, at best. The Spirit coming upon the disciples fills them with such a tremendous amount of gifts that they can’t but help to go forward and begin to minister to the people that they encounter.
Perhaps it is in this vein that the psalm is spoken very clearly: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. The disciples themselves begin to accomplish that work themselves- and the psalmist desires the same.
The second reading comes from Saint Paul and his letter to the Corinthians. This section of the letter deals heavily with one thing- the Spirit. He starts off with a simple statement: no one can say “Jesus is Lord, “ except by the Holy Spirit. This seems a strong statement immediately, but if you think on it- it is true enough- one must come to knowledge of God whether through the Spirit directly, the Spirit through another, or some prompting of the Spirit that leads them to this truth. Yet, Paul isn’t done here and he continues on to tell more about the Spirit. There are different gifts but the same Spirit. Different forms of service, but the same Lord. Different workings but the same God. To each individual- there is Spirit given to them for some benefit. To draw all of this to a close, though, Paul rests on that image that he keeps coming back to- the Body of Christ. The Spirit indeed allows all to be united in this Body- and we all receive that same Spirit as well.
Finally we arrive at the Gospel according to John. This passage dovetails very nicely with the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, and gives more detail to that day of Pentecost. “On the evening of that first day of the week when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews.” Notice, here we are given the fact that the disciples are in a very vulnerable position. They feel as if they are to be afraid of those who put Jesus to death- and so they stay inside and are filled with fear. Yet, in this moment, eventually, Jesus appears to them and tells them something very simple: “Peace be with you.” Jesus is very aware of where they are and what they are experiencing at this time- that they are still filled with anxiety and fear from what has happened. He gives them reassurance- and then- he breathes on them and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He wants to give them something profound- that Advocate that He had promised for so long. So, they receive that gift- and they are given the immediate power to go and to forgive sins, and to retain, and to go forward, for they have been sent. Truly this is a tremendous gift for all of them- and something that they have needed for so long!
Yet, as we celebrate this day of Pentecost, what are we truly celebrating? Why is this an annual celebration- and the one that closes out our celebration of the Easter season? When we celebrate Pentecost- we celebrate first the fact that Jesus is still not dead but is very active and alive in our day and age. He is not in a far distant place looking at us from afar, but is continually at work- and is working specifically through the Spirit at this time. Though He is not with us in the same way as He might have been so long ago, He is with us in so many more ways- and powerful ways as well. He is with us in Sacraments, in Scriptures, in Spirit, and even in one another. This celebration of Pentecost doesn’t close out our celebration of Easter, but it incorporates it into the rest of our reality.
Further, that gift of Spirit gives them a sense of mission. They aren’t to simply stay in one place and to remain stagnant, but they are to go forward. They are to boldly proclaim the Gospel message to every land and place- and that is something tremendous and powerful. And they are even enabled to go and to proclaim that message in ways and tongues they could not before. The Spirit, as much as it is sent out, it sends us out as well, and wants to equip all of us for mission in going forward and proclaiming the Good News.
However, I think that there is one central idea that we can all relate to and consider today as we celebrate this day of Pentecost when the Spirit was sent to the disciples- where do we need the Spirit right at this moment in our Spiritual lives? If we go back to the Gospel of John- the Spirit doesn’t come to just indiscriminately give things that would apply equally to the disciples, no matter their state. In all reality, there was a specific need in each of the disciples hearts and they were beset by fear. They couldn’t go forward because they were all locked up in that fearfulness, and they were simply waiting. The Lord appears to them- and where does He go? He doesn’t just give them a gift of the Spirit that simply sits upon them and does nothing- but He gives them a gift of the Spirit that sets out to renew them all in a very powerful way. They, when they receive the gift of the Spirit, go forward, and not just simply out of that room- not just into the streets, but everywhere proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel.
This is a monumental and fundamental change for them- and it is made possible only by the gift of the Spirit that is given to them. Each and every one of them receive that Spirit exactly where they need it. Yet, where do you need the Spirit right now? Are you living in fear, and unable to move? Are you living in a place where you are consumed by doubt? Are there questions in your hearts? Perhaps the flame of faith feels as if it is going out. In all of those moments we ask for God’s gift of the Spirit! Are we unable to understand some areas of our faith? We need God’s gift of the Spirit. These are all areas that we need that gift to go to.
Much like in my time at seminary- the gift of the Spirit is something that is given to us- not just for this moment, but for the moments when we might need it most. Wherever we need that gift of the Spirit- may each and every one of us have that constant prayer on our lips: Come, Holy Spirit. May we too receive that gift of the Spirit that we seek and we desire.
