Sunday, May 30, 2004
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: Rom 8:8-17

So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God.

Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to him. But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the spirit is life and holiness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Yes, he will do it through his Spirit who dwells within you.

Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to death the body's deeds so that we may live.

All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Then, no more fear: you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters and every time we cry, "Abba! (this is Dad!) Father!" the Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God. If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God and we will share it with Christ; for if we now suffer with him, we will also share Glory with him.

Gospel: Jn 14:15-16, 23-26

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make a room in his home. But if anyone does not love me, he will not keep my words, and these words that you hear are not mine but the Father's who sent me.

"I told you all this while I was still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you."

Commentary

HOW does God come down?
Smoke came forth from his nostrils
And scorching fire from his mouth:
Coals were set ablaze by its heat. (Ps 17)

This display of anger was meant for the enemy, certainly, but it is still a frightful image of God. By way of contrast, read these lines by Jessica Powers on today's feast of Pentecost:

That was the day when Fire came down from heaven,
inaugurating the first spring of love.
Blood melted in the frozen veins, and even
the least bird sang in the mind's inmost grove.

James and John once asked Jesus to send fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritans, who had offered no hospitality. He told them, more or less, to grow up (Lk 9:55). But a year or two later, fire of a different kind did come down on the Samaritans, at the hands of Peter and John, "The apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.... Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17).

Read also Sundays Into Silence: Forgiveness and the Spirit Within

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