Sunday May 11, 2008, Pentecost Sunday: Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23

Last week, we celebrated the feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. The feast of the Ascension is 9 days before the feast of Pentecost. Jesus Christ instructed his Apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit. These nine days were days of intensive prayer and preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. This was the very first novena in the Christian Church. Today, the church celebrates the feast of Pentecost. This is a special feast because it is the birthday of the Church. It is a significant feast because with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, the salvific mission of the Trinity to human kind reached its peak – The Apostles have now known the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. With this fullness of the power of the Trinity, they are to go out and be witnesses to the whole world. The Church is no longer a small group of loyal followers in Jerusalem, it is now a world church, a church that must go to the ends of the world and witness the paschal mystery. God is entering into a new covenant with his people – salvation is now open to everyone, not only to the people of Israel.
The Holy Spirit brought about transformation in the lives of the disciples. They were no longer timid and fearful, but they became firebrand Christians who were willing to give of their lives for what they believe. Peter for example did not need to think twice about the consequences for identifying himself as a follower of Jesus Christ. He came out and boldly preached about the risen Lord. These apostles who in the gospel of Mark 9: 14 could not heal a boy that is possessed of a demon are now great healers. Peter and John healed the crippled man at the gate of the temple; Phillip is able to preach and convert Simon the magician; Stephen joyfully gives of his life becoming the first martyr. Acts of the Apostles 5: 12 tells us that so many signs were done in the hands of the Apostles that many sick people were laid by the sides of the streets so that their shadow will fall on them and bring them healing.
How come the Apostles were able to do all these mighty deeds and we are not? Did the Apostles receive the same Holy Spirit that we all received at baptism and confirmation? The Spirit of God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The reason most of us cannot work mighty deeds as the Apostles did is our lack of openness to the power of the Holy Spirit. This may be caused by fear. We all know that prayer of St. Augustine before his conversion, “Lord give me chastity but not now.” We really want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit but we are afraid of letting him lead us. We are more comfortable where we are right now and we are afraid of the unknown. If we continue to live just the way we are, we are not living to our full Christian potential. The Apostles did not remain in the safety of the upper room, they went out to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. The problem is that 10, 15, 30, 40 and even 50 years after our confirmation, many of us are still cooling off in the upper room.
What are some of the signs that the Holy Spirit is not fully alive in you? You find it difficult to pray or make time for prayer; you rarely study the word of God; coming to church is an obligation for you rather than something you look forward to or enjoy doing; you do not participate in any ministry in the church; you are afraid of identifying yourself as a Christian; you have not used the sacrament of reconciliation in over a year; you do not give of your time or talent or treasure to God; you do not share of your resources with those in need, etc. God does not want you to continue to live this kind of life. He wants to call you to a new life, a life full of the Holy Spirit. He wants you to experience a second Pentecost, where empowered with the Holy Spirit, you will truly become the person he has called you to be.
What you must do now to experience the second Pentecost? Embrace a life of solitude. This does not mean cutting off the people you cared the most about. It does not also mean isolating yourself. It is creating some silence in your soul, so that God may speak to you. We live in an age of technology: computers, iPods, cell phones, internet, satellite radios, etc. There is just constant noise and we rarely find time to hear God speak to us. How many times did you say you were going to spend just five minutes checking that email and then pray and you ended up spending two hours or more on the internet? How many times were you driving to work or travelling and you said you will just listen to that song on radio or CD and then pray and you found yourself at the end of your journey without giving time to prayer? We must give God priority and create that time for him to speak to us. In 1Kings 19:9 when Elijah had the vision of God, he did not experience him in the Strong heavy wind; he wasn’t even in the mighty earthquake; God was not in the fire; he came in the tiny whispering sound. When the Holy Spirit comes in a tiny whispering sound, will you hear it? Spend at least five minutes every day to listen to God speak to you.
The disciples prayed together. Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 18:20, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.” While it is good to have a personal prayer life, it is also good to pray with other people. The family is an excellent place to intercede for the coming of the Holy Spirit. If a family prays together, God will be in their midst. There are also many wonderful religious groups in our church community you can belong. The small basic Christian community is a place for you to cultivate an opening for the Holy Spirit to in-break in you. If there is no group you see that you like, I challenge you to begin yours, if you need ideas on how to start one up, I am more than willing to help you. The important thing is that, you must be in prayer with other Christians. The Holy Spirit did not find the Apostles all scattered around, it found them together praying. You need to have that longing for the Holy Spirit and ask God to in-break the Holy Spirit in you. Luke 11: 9-13 tells us, “Ask and you shall receive.” Ask specifically for the Holy Spirit and I will assure you that you will receive it abundantly.
The Apostles gathered around Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary was the great intercessor of the Holy Spirit. She was the first woman in the New Testament to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We must not neglect her. She is the woman I turn to every morning and ask for her help. I cannot imagine a day without her in my life. She is constantly interceding for me and she will intercede for you also that you may receive the Holy Spirit.
As we celebrate this feast of Pentecost, let us ask God to refresh us in his Holy Spirit, that we may go out and be the witnesses of his love to all of humanity.

Saturday May 10, 2008: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; John 21:20-25

The “sola scriptura” argument is defeated by the conclusion of today’s gospel: “There are also many other things that Jesus did but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” When some of my friends in other Christian churches want to question my Catholic beliefs, the question is always “Is it in the Bible?” I always reply with a question, “Does it have to be in the Bible?” and then I will proceed to quote this passage from John. It would be naïve to think that the Bible contains in totality every single thing that Jesus did. The intention of the evangelists was not to write the history of Jesus. The truthful witness of the life of Jesus also comes to us through the traditions handed down to us by the Apostles. Our beliefs are founded not only on the Bible but also in the over 2000 year tradition that we as a church have been so privileged to receive from the Apostles. It is our responsibility to continue to witness the truth of the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to all people that we encounter.

Friday May 9, 2008: Acts 25:13b-21; John 21:15-19

Jesus Christ understands the temptations that his disciples will face after he has returned to his Father. How many times have we decided we were going to commit more time to ministry only to find ourselves not keeping to that promise? We always have reasons why we have to work many more hours than committing that time to volunteer in the church. Jesus Christ wants to receive that commitment from Peter that he would not abandon his flock. He asks Peter if he loves him more than the world, more than his profession of fishing, and more than his own life. If you have been following the gospel story, Jesus has just prayed for his disciples to have the kind of love that the Father has for him. It is this love that Peter is invited to embrace. This love will lead Peter to give of his own profession to take care of Jesus’ flock and it is this love that will lead him to his own crucifixion.



Like Peter and the rest of the Apostles, we are also invited to embrace this love. A visible way of doing this is to deny ourselves some comforts, so that we can generously help the victims of the Cyclone in Myanmar.

Thursday May 8, 2008: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; John 17:20-26

It is clear in today’s gospel that the prayer and promise of Jesus was not only for the Apostles that lived during his time, but this was extended to all those who will believe the gospel preached by the apostles. We are all beneficiaries of this gospel. There is no reason why we cannot engage in ecumenism today in order to heal the wounds that our divisions have caused. Jesus Christ says we are the Father’s gift to him. The gift of the Father is a precious gift, and thus, Jesus treats us as his precious gifts. There is special benefit for us because we are God’s gift to Jesus – the privilege to being wherever he is. We have no doubts in our minds where he is. He is in heaven and he waits with joyful anticipation to receive us there. Meanwhile, Jesus prays that Christians may have divine love – the love with which the Father has loved him. This is the greatest challenge that Jesus leaves us all today - to love as the Father has loved him.



In what ways can we love as the Father loved Jesus?

Wednesday May 7, 2008: Acts 20:28-38; John 17:11b-19

The divisions that exist in the Christian fold remain the greatest scandal in Christianity. It was clearly not the intention of Jesus that we be this divided. He prayed for us “that we may be one” just as he is with the Father. As painful as it is that all Christian churches are not sharing in the same Eucharist, we have become too critical of each other. On any given Sunday, the sermons that come forth from Christian pulpits against fellow Christian churches are so divisive that it is doubtful if we all believe in one Jesus Christ. Every Christian in the world today must do his own part to make sure that we have a unified Christianity. Our divisions do not help in building God’s kingdom in the world, yet, that is what Christians are called to do. We have allowed the Evil One to infect us with the Spirit of divisions. We must root out this spirit from our Christian communities. We all have a responsibility to bring to realization the prayer of Jesus Christ, “that we may be one.”


What can you do to promote Christian unity in the world?

Tuesday May 6, 2008: Acts 20:17-27; Jn 17:1-11a

Given the challenges we go through every day, it is easy to lose sight of our identity; our uniqueness as children of the Father. How are we children of the Father? All of us, who are baptized in Christ, belong to Jesus Christ. We have chosen to be baptized because we believe that Jesus Christ is from the Father. Everything that Jesus Christ has belongs to the Father. Since we all belong to Jesus, we belong to the Father. John 1: 12 tells us that, all those who believed, he has given them the power to be called the sons and daughters of God.


Our explicit presentation to the Father by Jesus Christ, reminds us that we are not alone when we go through challenging times in this world. Jesus is aware of these challenges and that is the reason he prays for us and commits us into the hands of the Father. As the Father was always present with Jesus in the world, so will he always be present to us. He will never abandon us for a moment. Those times you feel like giving up, remember that God is present with you.


How is your relationship with the Father?

Monday May 5, 2008: Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33

Jesus Christ does not deceive his followers that everything will be easy after they receive the Holy Spirit. Even though the Holy Spirit will be a helper to them, they will still face troubles in this world. The invitation to Christians faced with these troubles is to have courage. Christians are not to give in to the troubles and challenges of this world. Every true Christian needs courage to be able to face persecutions. These persecutions sometimes come from the people closest to you. These people may be fellow Christians who are weak in their own faith. These temptations always come in subtle ways. Have friends mocked you because you are still a virgin? Have you been called a weakling because you did not fight back one who has hurt you? Have your friends laughed at you because you did not get drunk at the party? Were you considered stupid because you did not lie to cut a deal? These are all temptations. Jesus did not succumb to the temptations of Satan and he wants us all to hold firm to our Christian values.


What are your own temptations? Are you courageous enough to resist them?