This Sunday we celebrate the “Birthday of the Church” (Pentecost) and the sending of the Holy Spirit, both corporately to the institutional Church and individually to each and every believer. This is a celebration of Love--the Love which the Father and the Son have for each other and so manifested as the Holy Spirit among us as well as the Love of Christ our Lord to be with us always until the end of the ages. The Holy Spirit is sent to remind us of all that Jesus taught us, to reveal His Truths, and them to lead us to the Truth so that we may live it out in our daily Christian lives.

At the Vigil Mass’s Gospel of John (7:37-39) notes: “Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me." That the Holy Spirit, the living waters of Christ and the Father, will be given to and flow from those who believe in God. It is the Holy Spirit who shall dwell in our hearts and motivate (lead) us to be Dis-ciples of Christ by the things we say and do in Christ’s name. At Baptism, we are given the “seed” of God’s Holy Spirit which is planted in us so that our hearts may turn toward Christ and choose to freely love Him in response to God’s love for us. At Baptism when I speak to the parents and godparents about their role as “the first of teachers and the best of teachers” in the ways of faith to their chil-dren, I remind them that even if their child goes to Mass every Sunday and has perfect attendance at religious edu-cation classes, the child will learn what it means to be a Christian disciple from the things that their parents, god-parents and relatives say and do—or do not say and do not do—in everyday life: if you care for the homeless and feed the hungry, if you respect all peoples, if you seek truth and justice in your own actions, then child is raised in faith and will have a living example of Christian faith to inspire them all the days of their life. This is a perfect sign of the Holy Spirit coming among--and dwelling within--each of us to renew the face of the earth. We hear this beautifully and poetically stated in this weekend’s Sequence, Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit), and sung by our cantor, says: You, of comforters the best; You, the soul's most welcome guest; Sweet refreshment here below; In our labor, rest most sweet; Grateful coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe. O most blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill!

At the Mass of the Day on Pentecost, the Gospel of John (20:19-23) notes: 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." Here the gospel speaks to both the individu-al role of the Holy Spirit, granting Peace to us via the comfort and knowledge of the Holy Spirit being given to us and the Great Commissioning of our life lived as Christian disciples. As well we hear of the corporate nature of the Holy Spirit where the Church is empow-ered to forgive and retain sins. The institution of the Sacrament of Penance, where the Magisterium (meaning when the Pope and the Bishops) speaks to the universal Church on issues of faith and morals, the Holy Spirit keeps the Magisterium from error. Thus highlighting that Peace and Truth are hallmarks of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Feast of Pentecost enables us to come to a deeper understanding of the right relationship we are to be in with God and with one another, recalling the second Eucharistic Prayer that commands of us to server God in the way we serve each other: “Thank you for counting us worthy to be in Your presence and minister to You.” This right (relationship) or understanding of our interconnectedness to God enables us to live a life of service to the Lord though the way we treat and care for one another, much like my mentioning above of the right relationship of the parent and godparent to the newly baptized—to be a living example of faith to inspire them.
As we grow in our baptismal call and in our understanding of our Christian vocation in life, we see how God asks us to be His light and love in the world. Pentecost not only celebrate the birthday of the Church but also our rebirth in faith and in life as Christian disciples. Our parish’s celebration of the Holy Spirit must show us how much God loves us and desires us to be united with Him in both word and deed, so that we may continue the mission and ministry of Christ on earth. This calls for our active faith and to fully participate in the Church, Sacramentally and in the Corporal life of the Church, by using the Sacramental graces and living everyday life through His grace: car-ing and sharing and proclaiming God’s love to all. Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit) and re-new me and the face of the earth!