This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit - the Advocate - was sent by Christ in a promise He made to us that He would not abandon us. The Holy Spirit, the indwelling of God in us, is not just a guide for the governance body of the Church (the Magisterium) but is a guide and protector for each and every one of us. The Holy Spirit of God dwells within our hearts to accomplish a few things: (1) to lead us to the Truths of Christ and to constantly remind us of those Truths, (2) to instruct us in our moral decision-making, so as to know the difference between what is "righteous" and what is "good," and (3) to help enable us to be more like God in our words and deeds, thus living out the good works of the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ as visible signs of God love in our world.

At the Saturday Vigil Mass, the Gospel of John is from Chapter 7, whereas John, Chapter 20, is used at the Mass of the day on Sunday. At the Vigil Mass, we hear
Jesus talk of the "Rivers of living water will flow from with-in him who believes in me." In this, Christ is talking about the Holy Spirit dwelling within each one who believes in Christ.

In this gospel we come to understand that what motivates us into service to the lost and the forgotten, or the homeless and the hungry, or the medically needy or the struggling parents or the troubled youth - is the Holy Spirit, the very love of God and Christ, sent upon the Church by Christ, to guide, enlighten and to enable her to be the visible sign of God's love in this world. Those visible signs are the food banks, the soup kitchens, the cots in the homeless shelters; the youth of this parish heading to the Boston Common to see the homeless as a sister or brother, not as a societal burdens. The visible sign of God's love are the volunteer nurses and doctors and staff manning the Malta Mobile Van Clinics, the ladies knitting and praying over prayer shawls for the sick young infant and her scared parents, the widow grieving the loss of a life-long partner; it is in the act of painting and rebuilding of a porch for a neighbor in need or the gift cards for Stop & Shop purchased by you to help someone who is hungry, it is the boxes of food supplied by Pantry Partners and the donations of parishioners, the gifts of our religious education children and the Lenten Mercy Project going out into the
community; it is the concern for the prayers of the sick and the lighting of candles for the needs of others.

In the Gospel of John (20:19-23) for the Mass of the day on Pentecost, we hear in very clear words the sending of the Holy Spirit by Christ upon His disciples and His Church with two additional ideas: (1) "Peace be with you," says Christ - a peace that is meant to inflame our hearts for action and with a concern for service to others; and (2) with a commissioning by Christ to His disciples of the day (and that includes us today), "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."

We have been commissioned by Christ. We are guided and strengthened by His Holy Spirit. We are given an infrastructure by the Church to carry out this
commissioning and to recognize the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives through education by the Word of God, in being nurtured and strengthened by the grace of the Sacraments of the Church, and by our solidarity in the
community of our faith- the Body of Christ on earth - the Church.

Pentecost is much more than a celebration of a historical event. It is much more than the anniversary of the birth of the Church, it is a time to recall this great gift of God: His love, which is the Holy Spirit representing the love and union that Christ and the Father share - the same relationship we are called to share in with Christ and our Father. This relationship is not a future event that will
happen upon our death, rather it is a relationship that we are called to begin today by being the visible sign of God's love in this world and will come to its fullness in our own Resurrections into Eternal Life with Christ.

Happy and Blessed Pentecost! May we all accept and rejoice in this Commissioning!