At the Vigil Mass:
Entrance Antiphon: Rom 5:5; cf. 8:11 — “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia.”
First Reading: Gen 11:1-9 — “It was called Babel because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 33(32):10-11, 12-13, 14-15 — “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own.”
Second Reading: Ex 19:3-8a, 16-20b — “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai before all the people.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 19(18):8, 9, 10, 11 — “Lord, You have the words of everlasting life.”
Third Reading: Ez 37:1-14 — “Dry bones of Israel, I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 107(106):2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 — “Give thanks to the Lord; His love is everlasting”
Fourth Reading: Jl 3:1-5 — “I will pour out My spirit upon the servants and handmaids.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30 — “Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.”
Epistle: Rom 8:22-27 — “The Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
Alleluia: “Alleluia, alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Alleluia, alleluia.”
Gospel: Jn 7:37-39 — “Rivers of living water will flow”
Communion Antiphon: Jn 7:37 — “On the last day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out: ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink,’ alleluia.”
Pentecost Sunday:
Entrance Antiphon: Rom 5:5; cf. 8:11 — “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia.”
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11 — “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 — “Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.”
Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 — “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”
Sequence: “Veni, Sancte Spiritus … Come, Holy Spirit, come!”
Alleluia: “Alleluia, alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Alleluia, alleluia.”
Gospel: Jn 20:19-23 — “As the Father sent Me, so I send you; Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Communion Antiphon: Acts 2:4, 11 — “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke of the marvels of God, alleluia.”
This weekend we celebrate Pentecost … the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles in the upper room. And through the gifts of the Spirit they were emboldened to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. On Friday night, I had the opportunity to watch the true story of a Priest named Father Stuart Long. This movie first arrived in theatres on Good Friday. And I believe that watching it just a day or so ago before Pentecost made the movie all the more powerful. The movement of the Holy Spirit in Fr. Stu’s life was unmistakeable … and for me as a Priest of our Lord Jesus Christ, it was an inspiration. The movie touched me very deeply.
As I look around at the Church today … whether that is here in the Parish of Saint Michael the Archangel in Clayton and Franklinville, New Jersey … or if I consider the entire Diocese of Camden New Jersey … or even the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world, it becomes pretty obvious to me that the same Spirit of the Lord which came to the first Disciples at Pentecost, the Spirit that came to rest on Father Stuart Long, despite all of the strife and violence in our world … the Holy Spirit of God … is still very much at work around us today here and now in 2022.
In Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people when they prayed or sang to worship God in the time of Jesus, the word ru’ah had three meanings: breath, wind, and spirit. Ru’ah Elohim is the breath, the wind , the spirit of God. If you read the creation story carefully, you’ll see Ru’ah Elohim at work from the beginning. In Greek, the language that most people spoke on the streets throughout the Roman Empire in the time of Jesus, the word pneuma had the same three meanings: “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit.”
The words “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit” are the words of Pentecost. When Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” He told them as well to receive His holy breath, which was carried along by a holy wind.
The New Testament author Saint Luke said that on the day of Pentecost: “There came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house where they were.” The wind could have been … would have been … a breath … the very breath of God. The wind could have been … would have been … a spirit … the very Spirit of God.
Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead, ten days after His Ascension into heaven, His disciples and the Church … were filled again with the breath … the wind … the spirit of Christ. This breath, this wind, this spirit, was not just around them … it is not just around us … but it was in them, it is in us, and it is in the Church today … here and now in 2022.
When that breath, that wind, that spirit came upon those first disciples, they must have prayed … and they must have prayed very hard! And look at what it got them … it got them the gifts of the Holy Spirit … wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence, wonder and awe (which is also called “fear of the Lord”).
And if you think about it, the Church, as the Body of Christ, still receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit today. Most of us can quickly think of someone who is wise. We know someone so steeped in faith, we can see it. We love people who are understanding … you can always talk to them whenever you need advice or … more importantly … when you need someone who really knows how to listen. We appreciate individuals with right judgment … those who always know the right thing to do. We admire people with courage … who are willing to do the right things even when doing them is unpopular. Individuals with lots of knowledge hold our collective memories, not simply to recall what happened, but also to foresee potential problems and dream of unseen solutions. People with reverence remind us that nothing is worth doing unless we are doing it in accord with what we know God wants. And some individuals truly have wonder and awe, the fear of the Lord, which is not being afraid of God but it’s knowing just how powerful God is: in the rushing wind … or in a quiet breath … when the Spirit speaks in our hearts and prompts us to act … as it did to Stuart Long … Fr. Stu … about 15 years ago.
Think about it. Who comes to mind when you think of these gifts? I bet everyone can think of at least one member of this faith community who possesses at least one of those gifts. All of those people help us know what it is to have a heart full of longing to be one with God’s will.
On Pentecost, many people became one people, one Body in Christ. Not all of us will have all of the gifts of the Spirit. Yet when we come together as a real community, as the one body, which Saint Paul wrote about in the First Letter to the Corinthians, we give birth to the Church. Today, in 2022, we give birth to the Church in our time and place … we give birth to the Parish of Saint Michael the Archangel every time we gather to celebrate as a family of faith… and as the coming of the Spirit gave birth to the Church on that Pentecost long ago. The gifts of the Holy Spirit come to us to share with one another. The wind, the breath of the Spirit … can be strong and driving … with the full force of a summer storm … or it can be the gentle breeze … a whisper … prompting our hearts. No matter how many words we use … no matter how we try to describe what happens … whether in a rushing wind or the sweet breath of a mother gently blowing on the face of her baby to have that baby smile and blow back little bubbles … God’s Spirit is at work in our lives. The Spirit is present in the ordinary and the Spirit is present in the extraordinary.
Okay, so on this Pentecost in the year 2022 … maybe, we won’t feel the strong driving wind … maybe we won’t see the tongues of fire, but through the gift of faith we know that the Spirit is here and dwelling among us. The Spirit has given us varied gifts in order to build up God’s kingdom. And that same Spirit is empowering each of us to go out and boldly proclaim the Good News – that Jesus Christ has died for all, that He has forgiven our sins, that He has destroyed death’s power over us, and that in all things, Jesus loves us. Now that is something to shout about in any language. Pentecost then, and Pentecost now in 2022 remains our call as Christians to gather around the table of the Lord. Here we can be empowered by God’s Word and nourished by God’s food. Like those Christians at the first Pentecost, we, too, can have our faith inflamed by the Spirit Jesus sends to us. We each need to allow it to happen.