Following Jesus’ Ascension, we read in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, that the community of Jesus’ faithful followers together with Mary the Mother of Jesus and some women, gathered in an Upper Room in Jerusalem. Then when the feast of Pentecost came round:
Suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting, something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire, these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…
Amazingly, the Apostles seemed to immediately find the courage to speak out, and to share the Good News. Fortitude is known as a gift of the Spirit. More amazingly, those gathered in Jerusalem from different parts of the world as far away as Rome, could hear and understand in their own language. In St Peter’s Pentecost sermon, which we can read in Acts 2:14-40, he explains that the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost is the same Spirit promised by the prophets, and who anointed Jesus and led him in his ministry and through his death and resurrection.
Last year, the feast of Pentecost occurred just one week after the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV. In his Homily for Pentecost, Pope Leo XIV said “synodality” describes how the Spirit is shaping the Church by teaching us to walk along together in unity. He highlighted the importance of dialogue, the language we use, our openness to really listening and so to grow in understanding. Wisdom and Understanding are gifts of the Spirit.
Pope Leo XIV referred to the confusion brought about by the Tower of Babel and that in the fullness of time, it is the Spirit that brings about harmony, breaks down barriers, tears down walls of indifference and hatred, and dispels “an exclusionary mindset”.
Piety is also recognised as a gift of the Spirit, so with Pope Leo XIV let us pray:
[May] Pentecost renew the Church and the world. May the strong wind of the Spirit come upon us and within us, open the borders of our hearts, grant us the grace of encounter with God, enlarge the horizons of our love and sustain our efforts to build a world in which peace reigns.
Sr Josephine Dubiel
Congregational Leader