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?Where the Spirit touches, radical upheaval and transformation always occur; barriers fall, doors are opened wide; all the towers built by human hands and designed by "the wisdom of this world" shake; fear and passivity disappear; initiatives are developed, and courageous decisions made.
?Whoever is dissatisfied and aspires to renew the world and humanity can count on the Spirit: nothing can resist its power. One day, the prophet Jeremiah asked himself discouragingly: "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots? And can you do good, you who are accustomed to do evil?" (Jer 13:23). Yes—we can answer—anything is possible where the Spirit of God erupts.
• To internalize the message, we repeat: "The Spirit of the Lord fills the earth and renews the face of the earth."
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First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, the apostles were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”
?Jesus promised his disciples he would not leave them alone and would send the Spirit (Jn 14:16.26). Today we celebrate the feast of this gift of the Risen One. Reading the passage from the Acts, we are amazed at what occurred on the day of Pentecost: thunder and strong wind, flames of fire coming down from heaven, the apostles speaking in many languages.
?We also wonder why God waited 50 days before sending his Spirit upon the disciples. To understand this page of theology (not news), we need to delve a little into the symbolic language used by the author. Luke places the descent of the Spirit at the Pentecost event. Yet, in today's Gospel, John tells us that Jesus imparted the Spirit on the day of the Resurrection (John 20:22). How do we explain this discrepancy?
?We must say clearly: The Paschal Mystery is unique. Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the gift of the Spirit took place at the exact moment, at the moment of Jesus' death. Recounting what happened on Calvary on that Good Friday, John says, “he bowed his head and Jesus gave up the Spirit” (Jn 19:30).
?Why was this unique, sublime and ineffable mystery of Easter presented by Luke as if it occurred over three successive events? He did it to help us understand many of its aspects. John has placed the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Easter to show that the Spirit is the gift of the Risen One. Now we see why Luke situates it in the context of the feast of Pentecost.
?Pentecost was an ancient Jewish holiday celebrated 50 days after the commemoration of the Passover. It commemorated the arrival of the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. We all remember what happened in that place: Moses climbed the mountain; he encountered God and received the Law to communicate to his people. The Israelites were proud of this gift. They said that God had offered the Law to other peoples before them, but they had refused it, preferring to continue in their vice and excess. To thank God for choosing them, the Israelites set up a feast: Pentecost. Saying that the Spirit descended upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, Luke wants to teach that the Spirit has replaced the old law and became the new law for the Christian.
?To explain what he means, we resort to a comparison. One day, Jesus said: "Do you ever pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Mt 7:16). It would be foolish to imagine that surrounding the bramble with attention, pruning it, creating a milder climate around it would make it produce grapes. However, if—with the marvel of genetic engineering—we could turn it into a vine, then external intervention would not be necessary. As it would no longer be a bramble, it would then produce grapes. Before receiving the outpouring of the Spirit, the world was like a big bramble. God had given people excellent guidance—a set of rules, precepts, and recommendations. He expected fruit to ripen in the form of the work of justice and love (Mt 21:18-19), but these had not eventuated, because the tree was not good: “No poor tree bears good fruit … and the evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in his heart” (Lk 6:43.45).
?What did God do then? He decided to change the hearts of people. With a new heart—he thought—they would no longer need an external law. They would do good by following the impulses within them. Here is the Spirit's law: it is the new heart; it is God's life. When the Spirit enters into a person, it transforms them and, from a bramble, becomes a fruitful tree, able to produce the works of God spontaneously.
?When a person is filled with the Spirit, something unheard of happens within them. They love with the love of God himself. From that moment, "he does not need someone to teach him" (1 Jn 2:27); he won’t require another law. John goes as far as to say that the man animated by the Spirit even becomes incapable of sinning: “Those born of God do not sin, for the seed of God remains in them; they cannot sin because they are born of God” (1 Jn 3:9).
?And the thunder, the wind, the fire? It is clear: we are going to see in the book of Exodus what accompanied the gift of the old law: "On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain. All the people in the camp trembled” (Ex 19:16). "All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning and heard the blast of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking” (Ex 20:18). The rabbis said that at Sinai, on the day of Pentecost, when God gave the Law, his words took the form of 70 tongues of fire, indicating that the Torah was destined for all peoples (thought to be precisely 70 at that time).
?If the old law was given amid thunder, lightning, flames of fire, how could Luke present the gift of the Spirit in a different way —the new law? If he wanted to be understood, he had to use the same images.
?And the many languages ??spoken by the apostles? Probably, Luke is referring to a common phenomenon in the early Church. After receiving the Spirit, the believers began to praise God in a state of exaltation. As if in ecstasy, they uttered strange words in other languages. Luke has used this phenomenon in a symbolic sense to teach about the universality of the Church. The Spirit is a gift meant for all peoples. Faced with this gift of God, all barriers of language, race, and tribe collapse. On the day of Pentecost, the opposite of what happened at Babel occurred (Gen 11:1-9).
?People began to misunderstand and distance themselves from each other. Here, the Spirit reverses the movement. He brings together those who are scattered. Whoever lets himself be guided by the Word of the Gospel and by the Spirit speaks a language that everyone understands, and everyone joins in the language of love. It is the Spirit who transforms humankind into one family where all understand and love each other.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7,12-13
Brothers and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
?What causes divisions within the community? Envy, mutual jealousy. Those who have good qualities (intelligence, strength, good health, and education ...), instead of humbly putting their talents at the service of their brothers and sisters, begin to expect honorary titles. They demand more respect and believe they are entitled to privileges. They want to occupy the first places. Thus, from opportunities to serve, the community ministries become opportunities to establish and assert their own power and prestige.
?In the community of Corinth, Christians were no better than those of today. They were committing the same sins; they had the same defects. Specifically, they were divided because of the different charisms (that is, of the various gifts) that each had received from God.
?Paul writes to these Christians to remind them that the many gifts, qualities theypossess, are not given to create division but to promote unity. Paul says: “the Spirit reveals his presence in each one with a gift that is also a service” (v. 7). And this is so because the source of all gifts is one. It is the Spirit. Paul says: "There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same" (v. 4).
?To clarify this idea of unity and mutual service, Paul compares it with the body. Christians form one body, made up of many members. Each part must perform its function for the good of the whole organism. So it happens with different gifts of which every member of the community is enriched: they serve so that everyone can show love through their humble availability and service of others.
Gospel: John 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
?For the first Christians, the first day of the week was important because it was the day of the Lord (Revelations 1:10). It is that day on which the community usually reunites to break the Eucharistic bread (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2). It is evening. The timeline with which the evangelical passage begins is precious. Perhaps it indicates the late hour at which the early Christians were accustomed to gathering for their celebration.
?The doors are locked for fear of the Jews (v. 19). Jesus certainly did not announce a life of triumph and ease to his disciples. "You will have trouble in the world,” he said (John 16:33). However, the main reason for insisting on closed doors (Jn 20:26) is theological. John wants to clarify that the Risen One is the same Jesus that the apostles have seen, known, heard, and touched, but in a different condition. He has not reverted to his previous life (as Lazarus did). He enters into a completely new existence. The body is no longer of material form. It is invisible to the verification of the senses.
?The resurrection of the flesh is not equivalent to the resuscitation of a corpse. It is the mysterious blossoming of a new life from a finite being. Paul explains this through the image of the seed. He says that "the body is sown in decomposition; it will be raised never more to die. It is sown in humiliation, but it will be raised for glory. It is buried in weakness, but the resurrection shall be with power. It is a natural body buried, but it will be raised as a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:42-44). When Jesus shows his hands and his side, the disciples rejoice. A surprising reaction: they should be sad seeing the signs of his Passion and Death. Instead, they rejoice, not because they find themselves in front of the Jesus they accompanied along the roads of Palestine, but because they see the Lord (v. 20). They realize that the Risen One, who reveals himself to them, is the same Jesus who gave up his own life.
?John places the manifestations of the Risen One in the context of the first day of the week. He wants to tell the Christians of his community that they too can meet the Lord. They will not encounter Jesus of Nazareth with the material body he had in this world, but the Risen One, every time they come together ‘on the Lord's day.’ After having twice addressed them with the greeting: Peace be with you! (vv. 19:21). Jesus gives His Spirit to the disciples and confers on them the power to forgive sins (vv. 21-23).
?The disciples are sent to fulfill a mission: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he was in the world, Jesus made the face and the love of the Father present (John 12:45). Having left this world, he continues his work through the disciples on whom he confers his Spirit. Welcoming him welcomed the Father who sent him; now receivinghis envoys is welcoming him (Jn 13:20).
?To understand the mission entrusted to the apostles, the forgiveness of sins through the outpouring of the Spirit, we must refer to the religious concepts of the people of Israel and the words of the prophets. At the time of Jesus, it was widely thought that the people were misbehaving. They defiled themselves with their idols. They were unclean because an evil spirit moved them. We wondered when God would intervene to rescue them and to instill in them a good spirit.
?In the Letter to the Romans, Paul gives a dramatic description of the miserable condition of the person who is at the mercy of the evil spirit: "I cannot explain what is happening to me because I do not do what I want, but on the contrary, the very things I hate. I know that what is right does not abide in me; I mean in my flesh. I can want to do what is right, but I am unable to do it. In fact, I do not do the good I want, but the evil I hate” (Rom 7:15-19).
?Through the mouth of the prophets, God promised the gift of a new spirit, of His Spirit: "Then I shall pour pure water over you and you shall be made clean—cleansed from the defilement of all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I shall put my spirit within you and move you to follow my decrees and keep my laws” (Ezk 36:25-27).
?This outpouring of the Lord’s Spirit would renew the world. He will flood it—said the prophet Ezekiel—like a rushing torrent of water, which when it enters the desert, makes it fruitful and turns it into a garden. "Near the river on both banks there will be all kinds of fruit trees will foliage that will not wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop because the water comes from the temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing” (Ezk 47:12). They are delightful images that admirably describe the life-giving work of the Spirit.
?On Easter day, these prophecies are fulfilled. In a symbolic gesture—Jesus breathed on them—the Spirit was given. The breath recalls the moment of creation, when "the Lord God formed man, dust drawn from the clay, and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life”(Gen 2:7). The breath of Jesus creates the new person, one who is no longer a victim of the forces that lead to evil but is animated by a new energy that drives him to do good.
?Where the Spirit goes, evil is overcome, sin is forgiven—canceled, destroyed—and the new being, modelled on the person of Christ, is born. The mission that the Risen One entrusts to his disciples is to forgive sin, thus continuing his work as the "Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29).
?What does it mean to forgive sin? In the right but limited way, these words have been interpreted as the conferment on the apostles the power to absolve sin. It is not the only way to forgive, that is, neutralize to overcome sin. The rights conferred by Jesus are much more extensive and involve all the disciples who his Spirit animates; it is cleansing the world of every form of evil. There are not two powers, but one—to forgive or retain—at the discretion of the confessor that evaluates each case.
?There is only one power, that of annihilating sin, in all ways. But this can also remain unforgiven; if the disciple is not committed to creating the conditions that all may open their hearts to the action of the Spirit, the sin is not remitted. Of this failure of the mission, the disciple is responsible.
READ: Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit onto the disciples. On the day of the Pentecost, the Spirit descends on them as tongues of fire. In baptism, we have all received the same Spirit who unites us into one body of Christ.
REFLECT: The Holy Spirit is the life of the Church and every Christian. He animates us and bestows on us the gift of charisms for the good of society. He helps us relate to one another as sisters and brothers of Christ, thus uniting us into one body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the union and understanding among peoples.
PRAY: Pray for an increase in the power of your faith. Pray that the Spirit will rekindle the passion for living with God and for God. Pray for the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
ACT: Take a leisurely, solitary walk and feel your kinship with the entire creation, giving thanks to the Spirit.
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