NEWNESS OF LIFE AND LOVE

NEWNESS OF LIFE AND LOVE

Pentecost Sunday

ACTS 2:1-11; PS 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34;  1 COR 12:3B-7, 12-13; JN 20:19-23

When something new happens in our lives, we have a lot of reactions. For example, when you learned that your son passed the examinations, you will for sure be jubilant. However, when you learned that your daughter was involved in drug related cases, then, you will be disappointed. When your husband gets promoted, then you will rejoice. But when he no longer goes home, probably, others will flare up while others will celebrate! Newness always shakes our lives because it brings us to something beyond our control. Newness leads us to worries, fears, and anxieties. How about if it is God himself who will bring us to an experience of newness? What would be our reaction?

Today, Holy Mother Church celebrates Pentecost Sunday. For the Jews, Pentecost is the Feast of Weeks. It is the 50^th day after seven weeks. It is the feast of harvests (first fruits, first grain, first crops). Thus, it is a feast of newness! And it is in this context that Acts in our first reading today narrates the event of the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” The event was something new. Those gathered were amazed with what was happening. They were Galileans yet they were speaking in different tongues. Such event then reminds us of the important work of the Spirit in our lives that is he brings us to newness of life. And so, in our responsorial psalm we cry out, “Lord send us your Spirit to renew the face of the earth!”

Now the question is, how open are we to the newness which the Spirit gives us? Are we open to the God of surprises? Or do we control everything in our lives? Sometimes we complain that our faith is boring. We go to Mass every Sunday. Once in a while, we attend Baptisms, Weddings, and Funeral Services. And that’s all! But if this is how we understand and accept our faith, then, we have closed ourselves to the working of the Spirit. This is our first challenge then as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday that we allow once again the Spirit to bring us to new and greater moments in life; to allow the God of surprises to surprise us again with his love.

Second, in our Gospel, the disciples after receiving the Spirit was sent by Jesus on a mission. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We too during our Baptism have received the Holy Spirit. Since, the day of our baptism until now, we are still sent on a mission. And what is this mission? It is nothing else but the mission of Jesus Christ, the mission to love. Thus, let us ask ourselves, How is my loving? Am I until now still in love? Is my heart still burning with love for my husband, my wife, my children, my work, and my community? Have I allowed the Spirit until now to inflame my heart with the fire of God’s love? Or have I fallen out of love? Have I grown cold in my loving? This is our second challenge then that we allow the Spirit not only to bring us to newness of life but to keep our hearts burning with God’s love.

Life and Love. Newness of Life and Love is the gift of the Spirit unto us today. Thus, let us follow the words of Pope Francis, “Do not cage the Holy Spirit! Let the Spirit touch your lives! Let the life giving warmth of the Spirit inflame your heart! Let the life giving breath of the Spirit enter into your soul!” Do not cage the Spirit! Let the Spirit fly and bring you to newness of life and love. Amen!

 P.S. Photo taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Holy_Spirit_as_Dove_(detail).jpg