The outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit, long promised and hinted at in the Scriptures, finally came to pass in most dramatic fashion on the day we have come to know as Pentecost. A mighty wind shook the house in which the disciples were gathered – a symbol of God’s power and strength – followed by tongues of fire coming to rest on the heads of each one of them. God was being true to his promise, the Church was born, and the story of Christ would now be taken to the peoples of the earth. A remarkable and marvellous part of that sequence of events was the fact that those pilgrims, present in Jerusalem from every part of the known world, could hear the Apostles speaking to them of God’s wonders in their own language. The disunity brought about by the many languages resulting from the sin of the Tower of Babel was now being reversed. We learn that the Spirit is the source of oneness, of unity among peoples.
For all its fragility, even sinfulness in its members, the Church spread throughout the world, yet one in faith, hope and charity, offers us a vision of God’s plan for the human race. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Church draws together men and women of every language, race and land and creates them as one in Christ.
While he was on earth Christ spoke often of the One who would come after him, who would be with the apostles and disciples as a friend and comforter. He is called the Paraclete, the One who defends us and leads us into the full truth of all that Jesus said and did. Christ loved his own too much, and us as well, to abandon us and leave us like orphans. In future, he would be with us in a different but no less real way, through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We rightly rejoice on today’s feast, often called ‘the birthday of the Church’. The coming of the Holy Spirit brings Christ’s work of redemption to completion, and God’s message of salvation is now freely offered to Jew and Gentile, slave or free, without exception. As the Holy Spirit rested, flame-like, over the head of each disciple, so on this Pentecost Sunday we pray that the same Spirit will once more refresh and renew the Church, and descend gently upon each one of us. Come, Holy Spirit!
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