Sunday, May 19, 2002
Pentecost Sunday
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-11
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and
it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues
as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All
were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the
Spirit enabled them to speak.
Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven.
When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each
heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder,
they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is
it that we hear them in our own native language? Here are Parthians, Medes
and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus
and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to
Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish
beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in
our own language what God, the Savior, does.
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 12:3-7, 12-13
Brothers and sisters, no one can say, "Jesus is the Lord,"
except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit
is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same.
There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.
The Spirit reveals his presence in each one with a gift which is also
a service.
As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being
many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptized in one Spirit to form one body
and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.
Gospel:
Jn 20:19-23
On the evening of that day, the first day after the sabbath, the doors
were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews,
but Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said to them, "Peace
be with you"; 20 then he showed them his hands and his side. The
disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy.
Again Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent
me, so I send you." After saying this he breathed on them and said
to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit; for those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained."
Commentary
Thanks to the Charismatic Movement that we have been re-awakened to the
reality of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of love gives us the strength to do the impossible - to love
our neighbors not because they have loved us first or because we expect
them to return the same love for our love, but to love as the Spirit inspires
us to love!
The Spirit of strength gives us the power to witness to God's presence
in the world, to proclaim that there is more to life than all the progress
we experience in wealth and technology, even as all these are part of
God's plan.
The Spirit of God makes us drunk in God's joy and infuses us with love
that makes us want to jump and dance and sing and shout that God is alive!