DISCIPLES IN MISSION—PENTECOST

          I am happy to be a part of this Pentecost celebration today linked with you through the wonders of modern communication technology. (I hope its working!) Pentecost is the day on which we celebrate the beginnings of the Church.   The Church is God’s handiwork formed through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who came upon the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, as you just heard in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  It is a day on which we are mindful of our communion with believers, not only throughout the Diocese of Salina, but throughout the world and throughout the ages through our apostolic and catholic faith.  It is a day when we are perhaps especially aware that our faith is a gift—a gift that has been preserved in its apostolic purity and handed on under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church from one generation to the next.  It is a gift that we have received in order to hand on to others. 

          For the past three years and more many of you have been gathering in your parishes and homes to pray and reflect upon God’s Word through the Disciples in Mission program.  The goal of Disciples in Mission has been to form us for a more confident embracing of our mission, which is to be an evangelizing Church.  I would like to express my appreciation to all who have participated and those who have given leadership to Disciples in Mission in our parishes and in our diocese over these years.   Undoubtedly good seeds have been sown which will continue to bear fruit in the months and years ahead.

          Before it was a Christian feast Pentecost was an annual Jewish festival.  It was observed on the fiftieth day after the Passover.  On the Jewish calendar the feast of Pentecost corresponded with the time of the spring harvest.  It was the occasion for a joyful pilgrimage to Jerusalem where the first fruits of that harvest would be offered to the Lord in thanksgiving. 

          The Christian Pentecost which we celebrate today is a harvest festival of another sort.  We, the Church, are God’s harvest.  We who are the first fruits of Jesus’ saving death and resurrection have received a share in his own Spirit through faith and baptism.

          There are two biblical accounts describing the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles.  The more familiar is today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles which narrates how the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles in the form of tongues of flame in a driving wind.  They immediately began to boldly proclaim the Gospel to the pilgrims from the various nations of the world who had come to Jerusalem for the festival, so that no matter their native language each understood clearly the testimony of the apostles.  This Pentecost experience points to the richness of the harvest of the Spirit and its universal embrace, its catholicity.  This good news is meant for all!

          The other account is from today’s Gospel according to St. John.  Jesus bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit during his first appearance to the apostles the evening of his Resurrection.  He appears to his apostles who had gathered behind locked doors because of fear.  He breathes on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Central to this account is the commissioning which accompanies the giving of the Holy Spirit:  “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

          The Church in its very constitution on Pentecost is missionary.  We are commissioned to bear witness, to reach out in invitation and welcome to all peoples so that all may come to know the joy of this harvest.  Each of us shares in this divine commissioning, and each of us have been richly equipped for this mission through the gift of the Holy Spirit received in Baptism and Confirmation. 

          We rejoice in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith, but sometimes we are slow to grasp that the Holy Spirit is still a driving force, who must not be stifled.  The Holy Spirit urges us beyond our comfortable boundaries into the world and among our neighbors who are hungering for the gift of faith which has been entrusted to us but which is intended for all.

          Like the apostles before their Pentecost, we still sometimes huddle behind locked doors out of fear.  We are stopped short by fear from giving ourselves completely to the work of the Gospel, the mission of evangelization, living and sharing our faith with others.  Each of us has our locked doors, our fears: fear of rejection, misunderstanding, risk-taking.  But we also have at our disposal the gifts of the Holy Spirit to open all doors and turn those fears into joy.  We must never underestimate the power of the gifts which the Holy Spirit has entrusted to us in the Church:  they are meant to transform us, as they transformed the disciples on Pentecost.  These formerly-fearful individuals became bold apostles, courageous, generous and filled with a wisdom that did not come from human understanding, but from God.  We have received these same gifts, and we must not allow them to lie fallow.

          “What you have received as a gift, you must give as a gift.”  On this Feast of Pentecost as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit we thank God for the blessings of renewal that have been bestowed and received so abundantly through Disciples in Mission.  Now is the time to “gather the graces”, to prayerfully reflect on how the Lord has blessed us as individuals, as a family, as a parish and as a diocese.  Awareness of these gifts leads to awe and gratitude.  Gratitude leads to a greater trust in the goodness and faithfulness of God.  Trust in God, rooted in gratitude leads to a more generous sharing of our gifts with others.  This is what we mean by stewardship.  Stewardship is closely connected with the mission of evangelization.

          A wise steward will take a full accounting of all that has been entrusted to him or her: and we must do likewise.  What have we received from the Lord?  What is the Lord asking us to do with His gifts?  How are we being invited to place these gifts at the service of others?  Each of us individually is uniquely gifted.  Each of us can make a difference.  But all of us together can set the world aflame with the fire of the Holy Spirit.  All of us together have gifts and charisms that if we receive them with gratitude, and develop them, and finally share them generously with others can transform our parishes and our diocese into Spirit-filled communities of the new evangelization.  It begins and grows with a wise stewardship of our time and our talents and all of our spiritual and material gifts. 

          Let us pray that the grace of Pentecost will renew the Church in our diocese through a greater awareness of our blessings, a deepening spirit of gratitude and generous sharing of our gifts.

        Spirit, dispenser of charisms to everyone;

        Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, who so loves us all,

        You fill the prophets, perfect the apostles,

        Strengthen the martyrs, inspire the teachers with teaching!

        To you, our Paraclete God,

        We send up our supplication along with this fragrant incense.

        We ask you to renew us with your holy gifts,

        To come down upon us as you came down upon the Apostles in the upper room.

        Pour out your charisms upon us,

        Fill us with knowledge of your teaching;

        Make us temples of your glory,

        Let us be overcome by the wine of your grace.

        Grant that we may live for you, be of one mind with you, and adore you,

        You the pure, you the holy, God Spirit Paraclete.  Amen.