TO SERVE HUMANITY AND TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD

Today we are celebrating the feast of Pentecost to conclude the Easter Season. It is on this day that the universal church started its mission. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Blessed Virgin  Mary and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost they all began to speak in different tongues (Acts 2:1-4). At that time Men who lived in Jerusalem hailing from different nations were amazed by hearing these simple Galileans speak in their own tongues (Acts 2:6-7). After receiving the Holy Spirit they all began to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. St. Peter, the simple fishermen, probably not literate, the one who ran away from Jesus and denied his association with Him, comes out boldly and proclaims the good news of Jesus with the eleven in front of the crowd (Acts 2:14). The Holy Spirit gave them the gift of courage to speak and the gift of wisdom to elucidate God’s salvific mystery. It is the first proclamation of the universal church.

Though Christ instituted the church on the last supper it is only after receiving the Holy Spirit that the church became active. The mission of the church is to proclaim Jesus as Christ, the messiah. As St. Paul says in today’s reading, one can proclaim Jesus as Lord only with the reception of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:3). Jesus is not a mere human being. Rather, He is a divine being revealed in human form. To understand divine reality of Jesus with His human form necessitates the assistance of another divine reality. Thus, the Holy Spirit, the third person of Trinity comes as a helper and a guide. Jesus told his disciples that “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (Jn 14:26). He also told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). Jesus started his mission of preaching the good news about the kingdom of God after receiving Baptism from John. Though John baptized many, it is only on Jesus that the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily shape like a dove (Lk 3:22). On the Pentecost day the church started its mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus after receiving the Holy Spirit. Thus, we need the spirit to profess our faith and to bear witness to the message of Jesus in our lives.

We have all received the Holy Spirit on the day of our baptism and confirmation.  It is the same true spirit that dwells in each of us but that spirit is manifested differently in each person. St. Pauls says in today’s reading, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Cor 12:4-6). In the world affected by covid-19 pandemic we all [I hope] do different services like, doctoring, nursing, sanitizing, feeding the hungry… all these are workings of the same spirit for the welfare of the one human species. The spirit has given different gifts to different people for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). Therefore, it is a right day to examine ourselves; How far do we use those particular gifts, which are unique in us, given by the Holy Spirit, for the common good? Jesus had the particular gift of saving humanity from sinful nature. He utilized that gift for the common good; the redemption of the world.

In the old testament “the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). The first man who received his life-spirit from pure God corrupted that purity of spirit by sinning. Jesus, the son of God, restored man’s original pure spirit by giving up his spirit on cross (Jn 19:30). Jesus cleansed humanity by pouring out his pure spirit from the cross. He purified our sinful spirit. He, the son of God “breathed His last” (Mk 15:37) once and for all. After the resurrection, on the evening of the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples in a room that was shut and “breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22). Jesus baptized us into new life, into new life-spirit by giving away His own spirit on the cross. The Holy Spirit confirmed us to the Father, made us united to the Father and the Son, with His gift on the day of Pentecost (confirmation).

As recipients of the Holy Spirit, we Christians should bear witness to Christ and it is all the more needed during this moment of human suffering. It is only with the help of the Holy Spirit one can find God in this time of crisis. Let us use various gifts of the spirit in us for the betterment of the situation. Pope Francis says, prayer is the sign of hope. Let us pray with the Holy Spirit that we may find meaning in this coronavirus pandemic suffering. Let us seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand God’s will and His action in this perplexed situation. May the Holy Spirit fill us with His gifts to serve the humanity and to give glory to God.