On Memorial Day, I enjoyed some one-on-one uncle time with my new nephew, Inti. ‘Inti’ means ‘sun’ in Kitchwa, the native language of Ecuador, where his dad, Rommy, is from. It is a fitting name, as he has brought so much brightness into our lives! So it was super special when I got to cradle him in my arms. He is just a few weeks old and I can’t get over how tiny he is. As I held little Inti in my arms I noticed that he wasn’t really too concerned with me. He is still at that stage of newborn life where he is totally focused on his parents. The whole time I was holding Inti, I only ever got the side-eye from him. He was totally focused on my sister Amy, his Momma, who was right there. I have heard that a newborn can only focus on the distance from the chest to the face. Which makes sense. From the very beginning, all they have to focus on is that they are with Mom or Dad, and then they know they are OK.
As we ponder the great events of Pentecost today, it is easy to get caught up in the more dramatic details of the account we heard from the Acts of the Apostles in the first reading–the tongues of fire coming down on Mary, the Apostles and other disciples gathered in prayer, the sound of a strong driving wind which even people outside of the upper room heard, and the miraculous gift of tongues given which allowed them to proclaim boldly the mighty acts of God in the native languages of all those who gathered to see what was going on. The tongues of fire, the wind, the different languages, all of these things are amazing, but they all happened for the sake of the final thing I mentioned, the slightly less dramatic thing, but arguably, the most important–the proclamation of the mighty acts of God for all to hear. At the end of the day, the Holy Spirit came in dramatic fashion not only to fill the hearts of those who were currently disciples of Jesus, but to inflame them to go out and share that message with those who still needed to hear it. Why was this so important? Because of what we hear in that powerful passage from the Letter to the Romans in our second reading.
We hear in this letter: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The Spirit came in power on the Apostles and disciples gathered in prayer because He knew that Jesus’ grace was not just for those who already believed, but also for those still living according to our fallen flesh, living in sin. The Holy Spirit filled the Apostles and Disciples so that they would be empowered to take the message of Jesus’ saving resurrection to all people. The Holy Spirit did this by helping them to understand that they had been adopted by God. So when they proclaimed God’s mighty acts, I am confident that they spoke first of the reality that Jesus had risen again after His crucifixion, and then of their own experience of a radical new life within themselves which helped them see God as their Father. I imagine them miraculously shouting out spontaneous prayers of praise to their Abba on that Pentecost day and inviting people in their native language to join in! The book of Romans reminds us: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
So the dramatic miracles of Pentecost were there for the sake of the interior miracle of people being awakened to the new life offered to them in Jesus. The great exterior signs of Pentecost were but symbols of the powerful interior graces that flooded people as they received Baptism and experienced the gift of the Spirit of God dwelling in them, allowing them to know the joy of being cleansed of sin and brought into a deep, loving relationship with their Heavenly Father as sons and daughters.
This brings us back to Inti. As a baby, he is most at peace in the arms of his mom and dad, with his bright eyes fixed on their loving gaze. This is what the Holy Spirit wants to renew in our hearts on this great feast of Pentecost. He wants to renew that simplicity of the newborn within each of our hearts so that they might be fixed on the Father. Once again, with His flames and wind, the Spirit wants to burn away anything that would take us away from our relationship with Abba, and He wants to push us out to all those we know who desperately need to hear about the mighty works of God so that they too might be made children of God. The Spirit wants to remind us deep down of who we are–beloved children of the Father–so that this supernatural reality would spill out into all areas of our lives–the words we speak, the way we love our family, friends, and enemies, the way we spend our time, the people we spend our time with. Everything can be transformed when we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit given to us as Christians. When the Spirit renews our hearts, He does so for the sake of transforming us and those around us.
We can see the same thing at work in the Gospel passage we hear today. First, the risen Jesus comes to the Apostles and tells them twice, “Peace be with you.” He is speaking of that peace that comes from being secure as a child of God. Then Jesus breathes on the Apostles as He sends them forward in the Gospel. The Hebrew word for breath is ‘ruah,’ which also means ‘spirit.’ So when Jesus breathes on the Apostles, He is giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit in a special way, so that they can fulfill their mission of bringing the Gospel to all people. He tells them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Jesus gives the Apostles a special gift of the Holy Spirit which enables them to forgive sins with His authority! This gift is still active in the Church today in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Each time I give someone absolution in Confession, I say this prayer:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace!
And then I say the words of absolution, which I won’t say here, because we’re not doing a general absolution, as much as some of you might want that.
That prayer reminds us every time that God, the Father of Mercies, sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins. This is the same Holy Spirit who inflames our hearts to live as sons and daughters of the Father. When we have strayed from living according to that identity, the Holy Spirit cleanses us through Reconciliation to bring us back into oneness with the Father and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. He restores that sanctifying grace within that allows us to live from our deepest identity as God’s children.
So my prayer for all of us as we celebrate this glorious day is that we each take stock of where we are. Am I living as a debtor to the flesh, as the book of Romans says, or as a child of God through the Spirit? If we are still getting stuck in the ways of our fallen flesh, let us run to the Father in the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we might be renewed and inflamed to live as His children once again and draw others to the new life we enjoy!
+ Heavenly Father, our Abba, thank you for revealing yourself to us through the gift of your Spirit. Jesus thank you for ascending so that we might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Thank you for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit in Reconciliation to renew us as your sons and daughters. Holy Spirit, help us to be confident in our identity as sons and daughters of God through your power at work in us, so that we might boldly and lovingly share the Good News with those who need it the most. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.+