2020/05/31 — Pentecost — Year A

First Reading — Acts 2:1-11
Second Reading — 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
Gospel — John 20:19-23

Introduction

We are sent by Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work he has given us as a Church and as members of the Church.


The Descent of the Holy Spirit

The story in the first reading of the descent of the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost, with the loud sound and the tongues of fire, is familiar to most of us. We are familiar with everybody being able to understand them, despite any language barrier. There are a couple of details that I hadn’t paid much attention to. The first detail isn’t even stated in the text. But they were in the house when they received the Holy Spirit. Then the people who gathered at the wind-like sound heard them speaking. They must have gone  out from the house. The Spirit moved them. It may have been only a few steps, but they were no longer closed in. They had gone out on mission.

The second detail, which gets lost in the amazement that everyone can understand them in his or her own language, is that they were “speaking … of the mighty acts of God.” Can we doubt that those mighty acts were the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as well as his teachings and miracles?

Something similar happens in the gospel, and again I’m paying attention to a detail I had tended to overlook. There is an appearance of the resurrected Jesus in his glorified body, no longer subject to the limitations of matter. He confers the Holy Spirit on the disciples and empowers them to forgive (or retain) sins. But tucked in between those things are his words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The disciples now have Jesus’ mission as their own. Perhaps forgiving sin could be one way of summarizing it, but it surely involves “speaking of the mighty acts of God.”


Different Gifts — One Spirit

The passage from Corinthians extends what we learned from Acts and the gospel. The Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people so that each one can do something worthwhile. Let’s remember that Paul isn’t writing to the people who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The apostles aren’t the only ones who have gifts for some benefit. He’s writing some decades later to the community of converts at Corinth. It’s not just the leaders of the community, but “we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” Everybody in the community has a gift. Perhaps the most important gift is what he says at the beginning of the reading: being able to say “Jesus is Lord,” which is also a way of “speaking of the mighty acts of God.”


Our Pentecost

What Jesus said to the disciples, he says to us, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We receive the Holy Spirit at our baptism with specific gifts at confirmation. It’s not just clergy and other church leaders who have the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit aren’t limited to those who serve in church ministries or on committees or on staffs. The differing gifts of the Spirit are also given to those who spend their days at work and their evenings at home and their weekends relaxing. I hope they make it a priority to pray regularly and come to Mass and send their children to religious education, because those thing are very useful in building up the community of believers. But just considering oneself a believer, considering oneself a Christian, amounts to saying “Jesus is Lord.” That self-image is a precious gift from God which has been received and accepted.

Conclusion

Our job today is not to judge how well others are doing with their gifts. We are invited to be consciious of what a great gift it is to have the Holy Spirit living in us, enabling us to do something in the world, something that Jesus sends us to do with the power of the Spirit making it possible.

Pentecost Sunday — 2016/05/15

Finally, some thoughts about the readings for Pentecost Sunday.


The first reading — Acts 2:1-11 — gives us the familiar account of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost. The first chapter indicates that there were about 120 people gathered together in the time between the Ascension and Pentecost, not just the eleven apostles plus Matthias, but also Mary, some other women, relatives of Jesus, and others. The manifestations — loud noise like a strong wind, tongues of fire — recall appearances of God to Moses and later to Elijah at Mount Sinai. Moses and Elijah are the ones who appeared with Jesus at his Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8), which was a foreshadowing of Jesus' post-resurrection glorification. So now, the Holy Spirit takes up the functions of Law (Moses) and prophets (Elijah) within the nascent Christian community. As noted with respect to the Vigil, the presence of Jews from the Diaspora and converts and their ability to understand the speech of the Apostles begins the Spirit's work of restoring unity to humanity, which had been scattered at Babel.


The responsorial psalm — verses from Ps 104 with a refrain from verse 30 — as us praising God for creation and the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming death, the result of the Fall.


There are alternative second readings.

Romans 8:8-17 emphasizes the effects of having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. He makes our own spirits alive, enabling us to live holy lives that please God. His presence brings us our own resurrection. He makes us God's adopted children, capable of enduring whatever share in Jesus' sufferings are to be ours. When Paul contrasts "the flesh" with the Spirit, he's not talking about body vs. soul. He means fallen human nature vs. redeemed humanity living holy lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 speaks of what the Holy Spirit accomplishes in us. First and foremost, e enables us to come to fait. Then he enables each person to do the work God calls him to, which differ from person to person.


There are also alternative gospel readings.

John 14:15-16, 23b-26 gives a portion of Jesus' discourse at the Last Supper. He promises that when he departs, he will have the Father send the Holy Spirit to be with the  disciples and teach them and remind them of what Jesus taught them. The Father and Jesus will also dwell with those who keep his word. While the Trinity dwells with all believers, clearly definitive presentation of Jesus' teachings must be uniform so the community (church) must be involved in presenting the teaching. Every believer, however, also must allow himself to be led by the Spirit according to Jesus teachings.

John 20:19-23 is about an appearance of Jesus on the first Easter Sunday. By now, of course, the women have discovered the empty tomb and Peter and Joh have seen it. When Jesus appears to the disciples he commissions them to continue the work for which the Father sent him into the world and he gives them the Holy Spirit to give them authority to forgive sins. Some scholars see this as equivalent to the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost, with the different timing as a matter of detail which is not of overriding importance. It could also be that this, as an appearance to a smaller group than the 120 at Pentecost, is about a conferral of authority which is not granted to every believer.


The Holy Spirit creates the Church and gives believers the ability, and the duty, to live holy lives, contributing to the restoration of unity within the human family through the spread of the gospel.

Pentecost Vigil — 2016/05/14

This is extremely late, but I think it's worth my effort. I hope you'll find it worth reading.


Pentecost is one of a small number of solemnities which have a different Mass formulary for the vigil than for the day. When vigil Masses on Saturday evenings that would fulfill the Sunday obligation were permitted, new Masses were not composed for the vigils: the Sunday Mass texts were brought back to Saturday evening. But for Pentecost, not only is there a separate set of prayers and readings for the vigil, but there is even an option to have an extended vigil, similar to the Easter vigil, using all the optional readings. This is appropriate because in ancient times, baptism was conferred by the bishop at the Easter Vigil. If a catechumen was ready for baptism but unable to attend the Easter Vigil, the bishop would baptize him at a "make-up" celebration at Pentecost.


The first reading — Genesis 11:1-9 — provides a context for understanding the meaning of the descent of the Holy Spirit recounted in Acts 2:1-11, the first reading of the Sunday Mass. It is the familiar story of the Tower of Babel. It is situated about five generations after Noah in the genealogies of his descendants. The descendants of Noah are still in a single community, but they decide to seek to build a tower that will reach heaven, which is an implicit challenge to God's transcendence. It is also wrong because it is being done for selfish motives. But it turns out to be counterproductive because, instead of keeping them together, as they had hoped, it becomes the occasion for their being scattered. God confuses their speech, giving them different languages, and disperses them over the earth. We don't have to take this story literally to take the message that sin divides us not only from God but also from our fellow humans.

At Pentecost this confusion and scattering is overcome. People of differing languages all understand the apostles and people of differing nations are united in the one community of the Church. The Holy Spirit's work brings unity.


The responsorial psalm — verses from Psalm 104, with a refrain based on verse 30 — is a meditation on God's glory, his work in creation, and the dependence of all creatures on him. The refrain emphasizes the role of the Spirit in creation and the continuing renewal of the world. (There is a particular resonance with the alternate reading from Ezekiel, which I will discuss later.)



The second reading — Romans 8:22-27 — speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit within each believer. We have received the Holy Spirit in baptism, but the "redemption of  our bodies" will not be completed until our resurrection. Meanwhile, we are incomplete. As St. Augustine says, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. But we don't know precisely what God must do in us, so our praying cannot explicitly ask for what we need. But the Holy Spirit knows and is on our side.



The Gospel — John 7:37-37 — tells of words of Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacles (also called Booths, Succoth in Hebrew). This was, along with Passover and Pentecost (or Weeks/ Shavuoth), one of the Feasts on which people were supposed to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Like Passover, it lasted a week. One of the main rituals involved drawing water from the pool of Siloam. Water was understood to represent the Holy Spirit. So, just as in chapter 6 Jesus proclaims himself the true life-giving manna from heaven, here he proclaims himself the source of the Holy Spirit for believers. There is a twofold aspect to the giving of the Spirit. The believer's spiritual thirst is satisfied (recalling the reading from Romans). Beyond that,  the believer becomes a conduit for the Holy Spirit into the world (recalling the Spirit's work of restoring the unity lost at Babel). The image of rivers reminds us of the life-giving river flowing from the temple in Ezekiel 47:1-12, a river which becomes wider and deeper as it goes.


The alternative first readings are Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b, an appearance of the Lord at Mount Sinai; Ezekiel 37:1-14, the vision of the dry bones; and Joel 3:15, a prophecy of the giving of the Holy Spirit and the Day of the Lord.

Exodus describes a theophany with thunder, lightning, cloud, trumpet blast smoke, fire, and earthquake. While Acts does not have so many details, there are wind, loud noise, shaking of the house, and fire. Pentecost was the Jewish feast recalling the giving of the Law, the Torah, at Mount Sinai. So the Holy Spirit is the Torah of the Christian, dwelling within the believer. Israel is called to be a holy nation, and the Holy Spirit incorporates us into God's people.

Ezekiel's vision of the dry and scattered bones that are rejoined, covered with flesh, and revived by the infusion of the spirit, contains a promise of resurrection (Paul's "redemption of our bodies") through the work of the Holy Spirit. As the Psalm says, when God sends forth his Spirit, creation is renewed.

In Joel we have a promise of a pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all people, like the living water Jesus promises. it will lead to the Day of the Lord, marked, as in the Exodus reading, by meteorological phenomena. There will be salvation for all who call on the name of the Lord, as Jesus promises the living water to all who come to him.



For us, Pentecost gives a promise of salvation. It also presents a call to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our conduct. This not only assures our own salvation but, when we place no obstacles, makes us channels of saving grace to the world. Especially in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, we should manifest the merciful face of God to all with whom we come into contact. The Holy Spirit is the bringer of unity, and we must not bring discord and strife.

2015/05/24 — Pentecost Sunday

Today’s readings tell us of the descent of the Holy Spirit and explain what it means for the Church.

John the Baptist had told the people that the one who would follow him would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3:16) The first reading — Acts2:1-11 — tells of the fulfillment of that promise. The loud sound of wind and the appearance of fire recall other appearances of God — to Moses and to Elijah, for example. (See Exodus 19:16-19 and 2 Kings 2:11).

Pentecost is the Greek word for the Jewish Feast of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, which occurred seven weeks after Passover, and celebrated the giving of the Law to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. It was one of the three feasts on which people were supposed to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which is why there were people from many different lands in the city when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. The Holy Spirit is in effect our Law.

Jesus spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit at the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John. Today’s passage — John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 — gives some of his words. He says that the Holy Spirit will testify to him and that the disciples will also testify to him. The Holy Spirit’s testimony is internal. He speaks to the spirit of people. The disciples’ testimony is external. They speak words which others hear. And this testimony is just what the Spirit produced at Pentecost.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. It is important that testimony be the truth. The disciples’ testimony, and ours, must be true or it is useless and leads people astray. The Holy Spirit enables us to testify truly. He guides the disciples into all truth. This promise applies to the Church as a whole, and, through the Church, to all believers. This is what makes it possible for us to be true witnesses.

We also see in this passage, an indication of the Trinity. The Spirit’s testimony is not something he creates on his own. He takes it from Jesus, who in turn has it from the Father, and this is what he declares to us.

The second reading, from Galatians (5:16-25) presents another aspect of the work of the Spirit. First, Paul tells us that the Spirit and the flesh are in opposition. It is clear from the list of the works of the flesh that when Paul says “flesh,” he doesn’t mean the body but fallen human nature. The works of the flesh do not just include sexual immorality, but other types of misbehavior, some of which are not even simply physical actions. Most of the works of the flesh are things that attack the unity of the community. But Christians have the Holy Spirit. He produces love, joy, peace, and the other things Paul lists, if we choose to follow his leading. It is not that we attain these things on our own: the Holy Spirit is the source of a good way of life.

So this feast reminds us that we have received the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live as we ought, including giving witness to Jesus as individuals and as the Church. With his guidance, the Church holds fast to the truth, so that our testimony is true. We should seek to live all aspects of our lives under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit can draw people to the Lord through the witness of our lives and our words.

It is possible that different readings will be chosen for the second reading (1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13) and gospel (John 20:19-23). Those are assigned to Pentecost in the cycle of readings for Year A, the first of the three-year cycle the Church uses. The ones I have written about are options for Year B, which is the current year. Eventually, I hope to get to the Year A readings — two years from now.

      I should note that there is a separate set of readings for the vigil Mass on Saturday evening. They tell of the tower of Babel. Genesis 11:1-9 The miracle of Pentecost overcomes the scattering of people and the confusion of language which occurred at Babel. Then Romans 8:22-27 tells of our need for redemption and theSpirit's intercession on our behalf. The gospel for the vigil, John 7:37-39, gives words of Jesus at the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, in which he promises the Spirit to his followers under the symbol of living water.

End of Holiday Season; Canada Day; Our Crosses

End of Holiday Season.  This year, the Church calendar had seven major feast days ("solemnities") in the period from May 17 through June 29. All but the last two are based on the date of Easter, and can shift about 2 1/2 weeks earlier or later than they were this year. This year, they were about in the middle of their possible range. So we celebrated —
May 17 — Ascension
May 27  — Pentecost
June 3 — Trinity
June 10 — Corpus Christi  (in many countries its original Thursday date, June 7 this year, is retained)
June 15 — Sacred Heart of Jesus
June 24 — St. John the Baptist
June 29 — Sts. Peter & Paul

I had a whole lot of celebrating to do (even aside from the point that the entire Easter season — April 8 to May 27 this year — is one big celebration, but you can't really party every day). Now there is no comparable concentration of big days until November-January, when from November 25 through January 6 we'll celebrate Christ the King, Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Mary Mother of God, and Epiphany.

Canada Day.  On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act came into effect, making Canada independent as a Dominion in the British Empire. Happy Canada Day to all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsHSVE5d3sc&feature=related

Our Crosses.  I happen to be reading a book written several years ago by Cardinal Dolan when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, To Whom Shall We Go? It is a series of reflections on St. Peter's words and actions as told in the New Testament, and I'm at the part where he writes about Peter trying to dissuade Jesus from being crucified. Cardinal Dolan says that we also have to resist the temptation to avoid the crosses in our own lives: the struggles and hardships and difficulties which we must endure if we are to live as we ought.

Making Friends in Germany. Part 2

Although Stefan had said "If you will write to us, we will write to you," he was the one who corresponded with me. For my part I told a lot about what I was doing, and he told me about his doings in school. He graduated from high school (i.e., made his Abitur) and the had his compulsory military duty. Durin his time in the army, he had a problem with his lung. I think it was a collapsed lung. After some time in a hospital in Ulm, he was discharged from the army. He then decided to study Chemistry at the University of Erlangen, and I sent him a necktie which I had in college, a red, black, and gold diagonally striped tie with three or four round holes in it. The holes had appeared shortly after I wore it to chemistry lab one day (probably caused by a few random droplets of acid) and I had called it my "chemistry tie."

Stefan also sent me copies of the pictures that were taken each year of the Junge Schar and tapes of them singing their songs (which enabled me to learn most of the songs. Stefan had assured me that they were not professionals, but they were well trained and sang in three-part harmony. One year, I had an enlargement of the Junge Schar group photo printed on four t shirts, which I sent, and they auctioned them off for the treasury.

Finally, in 1988, I decided to return to Rothenburg for the last day of the festival (Monday). Several of the group met me at my hotel on Sunday evening and took me to dinner. I followed them on Monday morning as they marched around the city, stopping and singing and getting beer at various hotels and getting provisions for the encampment a several butcher shops. After about three hours of that activity, it was time for them to appear in the play. They provided tickets to one of the performances, which I enjoyed. After the second performance, they were part of the parade to an encampment outside the city walls. After the encampment was over, I was able to join them around their campfire.

The following year, I returned for a two-day visit, and Stefan's parents had me join them for coffee (which is always accompanied by several kinds of pastry) at 4:00 p.m. in their home the day I arrived. I was also invited to join the group for their 5 a.m. breakfast of sausage (Weisswurst, rolls, orange juice and coffee) on Monday morning, prior to their getting into their uniforms, and for their lunch between performances of the play. Either that year or the following one, I gave my old straw hat to "Schluntz" who had much admired it on my previous visit. I also joined the Junge Schar for their evening gatherings in one of the local taverns. They would stay until after 1 a.m., even when they had to get up at 5 for breakfast. "Sloggi" commented one year that the weekend was very "anstrengend," which I understood even though the word was not in my vocabulary. It seems to mean something like "strenuous."

When I returned the next year, Stefan's grandmother, who had been living with them, had died, and the family invited me to stay in their home and use what had been her room. The Junge Schar invited me to put on a uniform and be in their annual group picture. The next year, I was allowed to put on a uniform first thing in the morning and march around the city with them until it was time for the play, and then to march out to the encampment afterwards. And the next year I made my debut on the German stage. They actually had me join them in their appearances during the play!

Meanwhile, over the years, I had taken part in the initiation rites, beginning with "Umdrehen der Beddes," — in which all a rookie's uniform buttons are unbuttoned, he is blindfolded and spun around several times, and then has to button everything properly while still blindfolded — and ending with "Taufe," baptism — in which the rookie stands half-naked while a large tub of cold water is poured over him. The Taufe is a money-maker for the treasury, as members bid for the right to "baptize" a rookie, and the winner can prolong the torture by pouring slowly, or get it over quickly. So I consider myself to have been made an honorary member of the Junge Schar.

My visits tended to get longer over the years, so that I could see the entire festival, beginning with the Herald's proclamation on Friday evening and ending with the "Ausklang," ringing out the festival with an open air party for the townspeople on Tuesday evening.

The festival takes place on Pentecost weekend each year, and the Festival Play depicts the story of how the city was saved from destruction when it was conquered in October, 1631. The Junge Schar appear as a brigade of young people who are last-ditch volunteers to defend the city (and who give their lives in the effort before the city finally surrenders). The conquering imperial field marshal, Count Tilly, relents from destroying the conquered city when one of the city councilors, former mayor Georg Nusch, succeeds in drinking nonstop the contents of a 3 1/4 liter beaker of white wine in response to Tilly's challenge. On one of my visits, the Junge Schar gave me a full-sized replica of the original beaker. The original was made in 1616 in anticipation of a visit by Emperor Matthias. That visit never took place, and the story is that it was first used to offer a drink to Tilly and his generals.

From the time of my first return, in 1988, Stefan had a girlfriend, Petra, and in 1993 they got married, and I was invited to the wedding. Both families are Catholic, so it took place in a Catholic church. But Rothenburg is predominantly Protestant, and as we drove to the reception in a nearby castle, one of the Protestants remarked, "The Catholics always preach better than the Protestants," which is the opposite of how it used to be in this country.

Since then, I have returned much less frequently, for various reasons relating to circumstances in my life here. But I was there about five years ago, and coincidentally "Stupfi," one of Stefan's good friends from the Junge Schar had his birthday that weekend. So I went to the party, which took place in Stupfi and his wife's yard. Their five or six year old son insisted on leading people around the house in a parade in which he beat time for Junge Schar songs with one drumstick on a miniature drum he had — and did a very good job of it. About 11:30 p.m. some neighbors showed up, and joined in the singing and marching. (In the U.S. someone would probably have called the police, rather than joining in.)

I still need to give you the links for "resource materials," and I may think of a bit more to tell of my involvement over the years. But then I'll be ready to give you the account of my visit last September.

Pentecost

"When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be my witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning." —John 15:26-27 (New Jerusalem Bible translation.)

When Pentecost[*] day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. Acts 2:1-4 (NJB)

* Shavuot (Weeks), one of the three festivals at which it was customary to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was 50 days (i.e., 7 weeks, or a week of weeks) after Passover and was considered to commemorate the giving of the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai.

With the coming of the Holy Spirit the Church begins its mission, just as Jesus began the work of his mission when the Holy Spirit descended on him at his baptism by John in the Jordan River. (See Mark 1:9-15 and parallels.)