The event of Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s action in men

On this Sunday, Christians all over the world celebrate the feast of Pentecost. The liturgy of this feast is based on the following readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23. The main theme of these readings is centered on the culmination of God’s creative work in man who is guided by the Holy Spirit. In the first reading, the coming of the Holy Spirit is described in the image of thunder and fire. The power of the Holy Spirit is recognized immediately in the action of the apostles as they open the doors of their hiding room and start preaching the Good News in all languages and without fear of any earthly power. Psalm 104 meditates on the Holy Spirit that Christians have received. It is the Spirit which sustains and renews all created things. This psalm challenges Christians of all ages to make a difference in their life as a people guided by the Spirit of God. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us Christians that we have been given different gifts of the Holy Spirit for a precise purpose; to enable us to be at the service of all men. Hence, we are called to be a unifying factor in our societies. In the Gospel, we see the risen Jesus breathing on the apostles and giving them the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit did not only authorize the Apostles to preach the Good News to all nations, but it empowered them as well with the faculty of forgiving sins as Jesus does. Finally Jesus sends them out in a very formal and precise way to the world: He sends them as his Father sent him and their mission was not limited to any geographical region, but universal in nature. From a doctrinal point of view, the culminating event of Pentecost brings about the fulfillment of God’s action in men. The arrival of the Holy Spirit crowns God’s act of creation. We see this in the images used; the dynamism of thunder and fire as well as their immediate effects on the hiding and fearful apostles as their narrow minds adapt immediately to a wider perspective of preaching to all nations. In other words, the feast of Pentecost redefines a Christian as the one who has within himself or herself the Spirit of God and who lives according to its impulse. The Spirit enlightens, strengthens, and fills Christians with a holy zeal which enables him or her to be guided without being dispossessed of his freedom and his human nature. From a pastoral point of view, it becomes clear that a Christian guided by the Spirit of God, must be a peace maker and a builder of unity in society. This is not a simple task; given the fact that today man lives in all sorts of divisions and separations. Our society understands well this point since we are still living its effects. Whenever we look at other people with a sense of discrimination, we unconsciously dehumanize them, hence depersonalizing our relationship with them. The feast of Pentecost calls for the spirit of real brotherhood: a greater closeness that must be discovered and established among all people as brothers and sisters. The central message of the teaching of Pentecost is a call to be our brother’s “keeper”, the guardian of his fundamental being and in Christian terms; caring for his or her salvation. With our modern and individualistic tendencies, confirmed by our history, this might sound as an exaggeration to some people. Some others may even look at it as naivety. But the Christian zeal for the good of others should never be seen as a narrow self-righteousness. It is not the presumption of self-perfection. It is not the blind fanaticism of those who want to impose their views on everyone. Far from it! The feast of Pentecost teaches us that our Christian concern for others is based on the desire to affirm them as brothers and sisters without paying attention to our differences. It is based on the desire to communicate to all people the experience of God’s love for them. The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to see deeper into the reality of other people’s lives. It is a force which carries us beyond the superficial daily contact, to our neighbour’s real needs, and to show them the way to Christ as their truth and their life. Ends