June5 - Pentecost Sunday
(Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 14:15-16, 23b-26)
In Acts, on this new and first Christian Pentecost, God demonstrates his presence and power by signs and wonders. But, the most important aspect of this first reading is not the extraordinary phenomena of fire, wind, and the gift of tongues. Rather, the crucial point is the transformation that took place in the lives of the apostles, who changed from timid souls cowering in a locked room to fearless witnesses of what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection. These same changes occur today in all who receive the Holy Spirit. It is in this sense that Pentecost still happens, as those who live according to God’s Spirit experience the same life-transforming power of God that changed the apostles two thousand years ago.
In the Gospel, Jesus assures His disciples that he and his Father will dwell within them in the present in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word John uses in the Gospel to refer to God’s Spirit is Paraclete. The word in Latin is Advocate. The Holy Spirit will help Jesus’ followers to make sense out of Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection and help them remain free from fear when people reject their faith or even attack them for it. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us today by Baptism, making each of us a “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19). This surprising promise, that the creator will come to dwell in his creature, is one we ought to constantly return to and rely upon. Great masters of the spiritual life from St. Augustine of Hippo to St. Teresa of Avila remind us that heaven is within us by Baptismal grace. We can rely on the Holy Spirit to be our advocate by actually becoming our prayer when we don’t know how to pray. He knows God’s perfect will for us.