Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 19th 2024 – Pentecost Sunday

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 19th 2024 | Pentecost Sunday, John 15:26-27,16:12-1

In Luke’s Gospel, after the Resurrection, we read the beautiful story of the two disciples walking the road to Emmaus and meeting who they thought was a stranger. Later, when he joined them for a meal they recognised him as the Risen Jesus.

Before returning to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles and the others still in hiding there, they reflected on their experience. We are told that they said to one another, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us on the road, explaining the Scriptures to us.”

Reading this sentence now I find myself wondering if this is, perhaps, the first description of Pentecost that we have?

In our minds we associate Pentecost with the Acts of the Apostles description of the ‘rushing wind’ and the ‘tongues of fire’ settling on the heads of those in the upper room. It is a dramatic and emotive description evoking memories of God talking to Moses (“friend-to-friend) in the ‘burning bush’, and the great Prophet Elijah being taken up into Heaven in a ‘fiery chariot’.

While the ‘mighty wind’ and the ‘tongues of fire’ are probably symbolic, something very real happened to Peter and the others in that upper room – something significant enough to be remembered and retold over and over again until it settled in the minds of the Christian communities as the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, beginning a new phase of development in the early Church.

The event – whatever it was – was characterised by a confident and authoritative return of faith in the events of Easter, the bold and courageous proclamation of those events, and a total commitment to fulfil the command of Jesus to bring the Gospel to all peoples.

There is no doubt that the Pentecost event was real and life-changing for all present on that day. The Holy Spirit they talk of as ‘coming to them’ was clearly recognised as the Spirit of God, restoring their faith and belief in the message of Jesus and giving them the passion, life and enthusiasm they needed to proclaim that message, regardless of the cost.

The problem for me in thinking about Pentecost as a highly visible, dramatic event is that we come to associate the coming of the Holy Spirit with wind, fire, speaking in new languages, and other things theatrical. Doing this, I think, risks making of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit something ‘magical’ and that, I fear, loses the very essence of Pentecost.

The truth is that Pentecost, for everyone in that room, was an intensely, personal experience of God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit did not come to ‘them’ that day, in the sense of something they were part of whether they liked it or not. On that Pentecost day the Holy Spirit came to Peter and Andrew and James and John, and Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus and all the others, as individual and profoundly loved children of God and brothers, sisters and friends of Jesus.

At the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, and again at the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, the Spirit of God descended as a dove (baptism) and a voice spoke from Heaven (transfiguration), “YOU are my Son, my beloved….” and “This is my beloved son…” On both occasions the experience was intensely personal and Jesus knew that the Father was speak only to him.

When Jesus washed the Apostles feet at the Last Supper, he washed each persons feet. He could have washed, for example, the feet of Peter only, and said to the others, “What I have done to Peter is for all of you. It is an example you should follow in my name.” But no, he moved from person to person, washing, drying, touching them. Maybe ‘touching’ is the best word to describe what he did.  When Jesus healed, forgave sin, conversed with people, he always looked into their eyes and ‘touched’ them, physically and spiritually, assuring them that “This is what I do, for YOU.”

Nobody in the upper room at Pentecost was forced to receive the Holy Spirit. God did not assault them with wind and fire!  The Holy Spirit came to those present who were open and ready to receive the Spirit.

St. Teresa of Avila, the great mystic of the Middle Ages, said it clearly and unamibuously: “We are always free to accept or refuse God’s offer of friendship since he doesn’t force our will…He takes what we give him; but he doesn’t give himself completely until we give ourselves completely.”

This is important, I believe, because for too long we have imagined the Holy Spirit as a kind of ‘ghost’ – wafting around as an ethereal spirit, a bit like ‘Nearly Headless Nick’ one of the many comic ‘ghosts’ in Harry Potter.

What we have failed to do, to a large extent, is recognise the Holy Spirit as a ‘Person’ – the third person of the Blessed Trinity.

If I may quote Teresa of Avila again: Speaking about prayer she said, “All the harm comes from not truly understanding that he (God) is near, but in imagining him to be far away.”

This, for me, is overwhelmingly true and extremely sad. For my own part, I know that in my own prayer I still struggle to see God as close. I am constantly imagining myself reaching into the Heavens to find God rather than looking within myself. In another place St. Teresa said it exactly as it is. “In prayer…” she said, “…“…we must learn to look upon God as being present within us….”

Sadly, I fear that our common presentation of Pentecost does no favours to the Holy Spirit in that we lose the intensely personal nature of his coming to the Apostles and the others present that day. Instead, it becomes a spectacle of sorts, a production, with sound effects, pyrotechnics and magical ability to speak foreign languages. (of course I exaggerate here for the sake of clarity.)

If we wish to properly understand Pentecost, then St. Paul might be the one who can help us most. His presentation of the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, is truly remarkable. There is nothing magical or spectacular about it. The Holy Spirit dwells within each one of us, always present, knowing us intimately, and providing a direct link between us and God.

Writing to the small Christian communities in Rome he says, “…We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself speaks on our behalf, with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26) Is there any more beautiful image in Scripture as that of the Holy Spirit, so close to us that he/she knows us better than we know ourselves, quietly and unobtrusively praying on our behalf when we are unable to pray ourselves. This is the Spirit who came to the Apostles at Pentecost, and it is the Spirit living in each of us today. As Paul said simply: “The Spirit of God lives in you.” (Romans 8:9)

Images and symbols help us to understand a hidden reality, but they will never do more than point to aspects of that reality. When it comes to Pentecost the two most common images we use are a white dove, and fire. What we fail to realise sometimes is that they contradict each other! The white dove represents for us peace, serenity, calmness and tranquillity, while ‘fire’, represents quite the opposite – energy, life, action, passion. Both images are true, yet neither is fully true!

The Holy Spirit of Pentecost brings us peace, serenity and calmness, but the Spirit of Pentecost also brings us confidence, energy, life and enthusiasm. If we see the Holy Spirit as ‘living within us’ then there are times the Spirit calls us to one and times s/he calls us to the other.

The challenge for us, I believe, is to learn to look at our world through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. Once we truly see the Holy Spirit as a person of the Blessed Trinity, living within each one of us, knowing us intimately, loving us with God’s infinite Love, whispering to us the words of Jesus, praying for us when we cannot pray for ourselves, then we can begin to see our world through the eyes of God.

Isn’t this exactly what Jesus managed to do? He allowed himself – not without temptation and effort – to be so filled with the Spirit, that he began to see the world through the eyes of God.

Pentecost was, without doubt, a dramatic and real moment in the life of Peter and the others. The Holy Spirit, coming to them, allowed them to see the events of Easter as God sees them. Their eyes were opened, and they saw both the victory and the hope that Jesus brings the world. It was something they had to share with anyone who would listen.

Julian of Norwich, a mystic of the 14^th Century who was way ahead of her time and who had a unique and deep relationship with God said: “You will not be overcome… There will be much to struggle through, but in the light of Easter nothing ever can be, or need be the same again.”

This is Pentecost.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus said to one another, ““Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us on the road, explaining the Scriptures to us.”

As the stranger spoke to them on that road, the fire of the Holy Spirit ignited their hearts and restored their life and confidence. They rushed back to Jerusalem to share it with the Apostles. On that road to Emmaus those two people had their Pentecost. Deeply personal, intimate, and only to them did the Spirit come.

What happened in the upper room at Pentecost was, I believe, the same – no more and no less. Their eyes were opened and their hearts burned within them. Deeply personal, intimate and only to them did the Spirit come, saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And know this too: I will be with you always, even to the end of time.”

All of us have our moment/s of Pentecost. They may be on a road, at work, in prayer, with family, alone, with others, on a bus or tube or in a car. If we are open, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, will make our hearts burn within us and we will see the world as God sees it, revealed to us in Jesus.

It happened dramatically in the upper room at Pentecost. It happened quietly but just as powerfully for the disciples on the road to Emmaus. It happened, through pain and suffering, to the ‘good thief’ on the Cross.

When and where was your Pentecost?

Will you notice your next Pentecost – because as sure as the Holy Spirit lives within you, it will come.

Many thanks,

Brian

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth