(Homily for Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024. The readings were Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104, 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13, and John 15:26-27, 16:12-15)
Have you noticed that the gospel is always a story about Jesus, and it’s almost always the main storyline for the Sunday readings? On Christmas we hear a gospel about the birth of Jesus; on Easter we hear a gospel about Jesus rising from the dead and his empty tomb. All summer long we are going to hear gospel stories about Jesus traveling and talking and healing and teaching. Today we just heard a gospel story about Jesus making a promise to his disciples, but it doesn’t feel like the main story of the day.
This is Pentecost, the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that story is right upfront in the first reading. It’s a familiar story everybody remembers: the sound like the driving wind and the tongues of flame coming on the followers of Jesus. That’s the story we all came to church to hear today; that’s the story we were thinking of when we wore red clothes to Mass today.
On that day the Christians suddenly could talk to anyone from anywhere about the good news, and everyone understood them in their own language. But the story of the Pentecost event, the birth of our Church, is not in today’s gospel. In the gospel passage, we get the story from a couple of months before the coming of the Spirit. In this gospel Jesus promised he would send the Spirit. The word Jesus used was “the Advocate” – so he’s promising someone who is on our side, speaking for us, advancing our needs.
As Jesus himself would say, if he were preaching, “today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” In the first reading, the promise is kept. Bob Dylan had some songs about his conversion to Christianity. One of them began, “God don’t make no promises that he don’t keep.” The promise of a savior was a promise God kept, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The promise Jesus made, that he would send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Advocate – God kept that promise too.
Suddenly the first Christians had ability to speak the good news so that it was understood by visitors to Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. People from Europe, from Africa and from Asia, locals and foreigners.
Maybe the apostles were so easily understood by all those visitors to Jerusalem because of what they were doing, how they were treating other people. Maybe their words were convincing and easy to grasp because they were backed up by how the disciples of Christ acted.
That’s what I think is asked of us.
God wants us to proclaim the good news to all nations. They way we do that, the way we attract people to our faith, is mainly about how we act, what we do; it’s not so much about what we say. The Spirit, the Advocate, speaks for us, and the Spirit speaks in our actions.
Our part is to share the gifts we are given. We are all given different kinds of gifts.
What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord
If you were confirmed in eighth grade, you probably had to memorize those.
The second reading today says there are different kinds of gifts, all from the same Spirit. Each of these gifts is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and each manifestation of the Spirit “is given for some benefit.” That’s what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. “Given for some benefit.” Whose benefit? For the benefit of that person who got the gift? I don’t think so: I think he means everyone benefits when the gift is shared. A body has many parts, and all the parts are necessary. The body of Christ has many different, diverse parts, and all of them, all of us, are part of that one body. Your part is important to the other parts.
Each gift of the Spirit, every gift bestowed on every individual, is given for the benefit of the entire body. You’re good at something, each of you, and you should know it. The reason you are good at something is so that you can make the lives of those around you better, so that the Spirit can be seen and heard in you, and in all of us.
Father Fragomeni, who presented our parish mission two months ago, reminded us that our gifts were bestowed on us for the good of all. The title of his three-day talk was “My Gifts, My Community, My God!” He made the same point I’m trying to make, more eloquently than I, that the gifts we have, the things we are good at, we are given so we can share them. The other thing we have to recognize is that the others around us may have received different gifts, and those are also for the benefit of us all. He pointed us to the VIA website to help identify our gifts, viacharacter.org. If you did not try that out in March, I commend it to you. The survey is free, and it will help you see what your gifts are and how you can actuate them.
Speaking of actuating gifts, I gotta mention the RCIA, because our season is concluding this weekend. The climax was at the Easter Vigil, when the elect were initiated into the Church, but for the last 50 days – 50 is what Pentecost means – we have continued to accompany them closely as they continue to integrate into the parish community, and to discover their gifts and how to share them. At the Easter Vigil we baptized three men; they received their first Eucharist, and we confirmed and welcomed into the Church them and five women.
These new Catholic Christians have come to care about each other like family. Less than a year ago, they had not even met each other yet. As we head into the off-season for RCIA, the watchword is what Jesus said in today’s gospel: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” It’s like he’s saying “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” When the Spirit comes and fills you up, then you’re going to understand.
The people in the RCIA were drawn to the Catholic faith and the sacraments. That was the Holy Spirit, enticing you, fascinating you, and the rest of us benefitted from the gifts the Spirit gave to you. We all got to see your example: What about it, veteran Catholics? Didn’t we benefit from the experience of the RCIA? Are we willing now, to be examples – to be people who live in the spirit of truth and embody the virtues of faith, hope and love?
When we do that, people from anywhere and everywhere will understand us when we tell them why we do what we do, because they first will have seen us living meaningful lives, caring for each other, caring for creation and caring for our common home. When that is how we lead our lives, other people might not even need to ask.
Belonging 