Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 31, 2020
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then 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.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
“Come, Holy Spirit!” These words, which were the oft-repeated prayer of Fr. Hesburgh, become our prayer on this Pentecost Sunday. Come, Holy Spirit, when we are hidden behind locked doors out of fear. Come, Holy Spirit, when our friends, neighbors, family, even strangers reveal their wounds to us and ask us to bind them, heal them, and to be with them. Come, Holy Spirit, when we seek lasting peace, when we need the rest which only God can offer to us. Come, Holy Spirit, when the Father and the Son send us on mission. Come, Holy Spirit, when God calls us to forgive and to be God’s mercy in the world. Come, Holy Spirit, this day, every day.
Scripture identifies the Holy Spirit as the Teacher, the Advocate, and the Comforter. It lists the Spirit’s fruits in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (5:22-23) and the gifts of the Spirit in Isaiah (11:1-5). The Spirit is the breath, the life, the very love of God the Father and God the Son. This is the Spirit we seek and call for. Come Holy Spirit, breathe in us, renew us, and dwell within us. This refrain should be constantly on our lips and in our hearts because it is our most basic need. When all other prayer is beyond our strength, when we need to recognize our total reliance on God’s grace, let us pray: “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Prayer
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today is the birthday of the Church!
After Jesus rose, the disciples continued to meet every Sunday morning to pray together and to remember and celebrate the resurrection. Christ was present among them until his ascension. The disciples gathered in the upper room where they shared the Last Supper with Jesus, where he appeared to them after rising, and where Thomas touched his wounds. They were hopeful, but afraid—the factions that had killed Jesus were still in power and posed a threat to them if they were to continue Jesus’ work.
On the seventh Sunday after the Resurrection, after Christ's Ascension into heaven, as the disciples gathered for prayer, a supernatural wind filled the room, and tongues of flame seemed to flicker above their heads. These were signs of a divine reality—the sending of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:1-13).
Pentekoste, the Greek word for “fiftieth day,” was the name of a popular harvest festival in the region (crops in Palestine become ripe in May). Later, Israel adopted the feast to celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Sinai 50 days after Passover. Pentecost was one of the three festivals during which Jews from all nations were required to travel to Jerusalem.
When this crowd of people from all over the ancient world beheld the rush of wind, or heard about it from others, they gathered around the upper room. The disciples, empowered by the Spirit, went among them and spoke to them, and each heard them speak in their own native language.
It was a radical reorientation for that first community of Christians. They had been huddled around Jesus during his ministry, and were uncertain about what to do after Christ's ascension. Christ promised to be with them "until the end of the age" (Mt 28:20), but he was not with them in the way he had been before. At Pentecost, the young Church was strengthened for their mission. They were sent out into the city to proclaim Jesus’ good news—no matter the consequences—to people of every nation. More than 3,000 people who heard them that day accepted baptism as a sign of their new faith in the Lord, and they, too, received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This outpouring of the Spirit made the Church manifest to the whole world. It marked a new era in salvation history that continues to today—an era in which Jesus works to save the world through the ministry of the Church.
This stained glass window depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples stands in the east transept of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and the woodcut of Pentecost comes from the chapel at Moreau Seminary. Fragments of the upper room and the table that stood in it rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
On this feast of Pentecost, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to direct us outwards to share the good news!