Acts 2:1-11
Ps 104
1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13
Jn 20:19-23
The word Pentecost derives from the Greek meaning ‘fiftieth day.' The word is not unique to the Church. Today's solemnity is historically, symbolically, and, as it began at sunset yesterday and will and at sunset tomorrow, it is calendrically linked to the Jewish celebration of Pentecost, also known as Shavuot.
Shavuot commemorates God's giving the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai fifty days after the Exodus. It falls fifty days after the first seder of Passover, always between May 15th and June 14th. In the Catholic liturgical year Pentecost is celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord, no earlier than May 10th or later than June 13th. Just as Moses received the wisdom and teaching of the Torah fifty days after the Exodus, the Church received the wisdom and teaching of the Holy Spirit fifty days after Jesus’ exodus from death.
The first reading is dramatic. Wind. Fire. Speaking in tongues. An ideal scene for a Cecil B. DeMille movie. The people were shocked when they heard the unsophisticated Galileans speaking in whatever language necessary to tell the city's many visitors the Good News of Jesus. The speaking in tongues is sometimes referred to as “the reversal of Babel,” the undoing of the event that caused the earth's multiplicity of languages, a symbol of disunity. At Pentecost, that which had been split apart by human pride at Babel was reunited through Jesus’ obedience to the Father. That which had been shattered by hubris was reassembled by Jesus, who sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” He listed some of those gifts in his Letter to the Romans. Today we celebrate the giving of those gifts. Each of us receives unique gifts of the Holy Spirit that are not identical or interchangeable with those of another. Our task is to discover and develop our unique gifts throughout life.
In some parts of American society it is fashionable, indeed it is a form of virtue signaling and wokeness, to deny even the possibility--to say nothing of the reality--of differences and distinctions, of abilities and inabilities, of truth and mistruth. The risk of not hewing to, teaching about, or preaching the narratives du jour may result in job loss, demands for public mea culpas and penances, or cancellation, the American version of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag
Today, many choose to deny fundamental biological differences with delusional intensity. Apparently the mantra “follow the science” is demanded only under certain conditions while it is optional under others. Denying differences fuels a heightened sense of specialness in which each individual or faction insists that his, her, or the group's specialness must be recognized as the most special of all forms of specialness, even to having a day, week, or month dedicated to trumpeting that specialness.
One of my physiology professors at Temple shared a parody about the body
in which the general outline was an argument among organs and body parts
as to which was the most important, which was the supreme controller, which was the MOST critical to the body’s function, comfort, and survival. It was long, it was hilarious, and it cannot be repeated in sacred space. However, the main point was that there is no MOST important organ. All of the body's organs and organ systems are equally necessary to life. Each has unique functions that cannot be replaced or substituted by another. The lungs cannot do the work of the liver, the liver cannot do the work of the heart, and the pancreas definitely cannot become kidneys.
One of the most dangerous lies ever told is: "You can be anything you want to be." No one can become anything he or she wants to be simply by wanting to be that thing, or, in current terminology, by self-identifying as it. All of us have certain immutable limits determined by chromosomal and genetic makeup, anatomy, and physiology as well as many other factors. All strengths are balanced by weaknesses. Native abilities are enhanced by inabilities, potential in some areas is balanced by a complete lack of same in others. The only equality among humans is that all are sinners loved by God.
Comparing the account of Pentecost in Acts with the account of the Holy Spirit’s descent as narrated in John's Gospel may be confusing. "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together." The descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts was clearly fifty days after Jesus' resurrection. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." John's Gospel seems to indicate that the disciples received the Holy Spirit
soon after the Resurrection while Jesus was present among them. How does one reconcile the two accounts? There is no need to do so.
Yesterday's gospel ended with the final verse of John's Gospel: "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written." We cannot and must not isolate discrete moments or episodes
from what is one integral event, the event of Jesus' revelation of the Father.
As the late Jesuit Father Stanley Marrow explained, "He who dies on the cross,
is he who rises from the dead, returns to the Father who sent him, and sends his Holy Spirit on all who confess him as Lord and Son of God.” The gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit have been bestowed on us. That is all we need to know.
The logistics are unimportant.
Our task is to cooperate with those gifts and graces in the manner to which each of us is called.
Our mandate is to share the news of Jesus with those whom we meet in whatever language necessary.
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The photos are black and whites taken in Lyon, France in the summer of 2014. Terrific city, superb food and a Jesuit community in an excellent location, a short walk across the river. Wandered around most Saturday mornings. Didn't entirely feel comfortable walking around late at night as much as I did in Ljubljana or Taipei.
Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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