by Bishop Guy Sansaricq
Acts, 2 1-11; Psalm 104; 1Cor.12, 7-13; John 20, 19-23
The promise is fulfilled, the promise of Jesus that he would give to the Church his very Spirit. The Spirit is in the essence of God, the power of God, the very substance of his divinity. The Spirit was upon Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One par excellence. Today, we celebrate with intimate joy that day when the spirit peculiar to Jesus and the Most High was poured out upon the Apostles and a small group of their disciples. This is how the Church was born. At Pentecost, we became COHEIRS of Christ’s treasure.
Pentecost is a pivotal Day: on that may said to be the fulfillment of a long history and also the birth of a new age. It’s the glorious result of Christmas and Easter that obtained for mankind the bestowal of a gift from above providing us with a new identity, a new dignity, a new mind and a new heart. We become like neon lights that are suddenly turned on. Our humanity is made to shine with dazzling radiance. Divine love flows a sa mighty river on the arid soil of our daily existence. We are made NEW!
Redeemed, mankind now enriched with the Gift from above is commissioned to bring this Sacred Fire to the extreme ends of the world, to gather in unity people of every tongue, race and nation, to transform sinful mankind into a holy nation and a royal priesthood, to bring peace to a tormented world.
This feast reminds us of the primacy of the Spirit, the supreme gift of Christ to the Church. Without the Spirit no one can please God. The true Christian, either Catholic of Protestant must always seek to grow in the Spirit. He alone can lead the Church to that unity that Jesus mandated us to achieve.
O LORD, SEND OUT YOUR SPIRIT AND RENEW THE FACE OF THE EARTH!