Pentacost Sunday

Readings:

• Acts 2:1-11
• 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Galatians 5:16-25
• John 20:19-23 or John 15:26-27; 16:12-15

Thoughts for your Consideration:

If you happen to be in the new St. Gabriel’s church in Toronto (Canada) and turn towards those reading the Scriptures during the liturgy you will always look beyond them into the large garden exposed by the passive solar curtain wall.  That vista could be important for understanding an important meaning of Pentecost for contemporary generations, old and (especially) young.

In ancient times, long before the apostles, this was a Feast in early Judaism that was completely sensitive to what was happening on the land.  What it signaled was the harvesting of food, a gift of the land and a gift of the Creator.

Other layers of meaning were grafted onto this basic religious awareness. First the gift of the Law, allowing for inner growth of righteousness, then celebrating the further gift of being chosen to make God’s presence evident among the nations.  But the on-going context of Pentecost was harvest time, feasting on the nourishing crops — and tasty, even heady wine adding to the spiritual celebration.

There are indicators of these layers of meaning in the texts of our own liturgy today.  The responsorial psalm is a paean to the mystery of on-going Creation:  “The earth is full of your creatures … When you take away their breath, they die…When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth”.  In our day we readily translate “face of the earth” as a global image, usually meaning human habitat.  But in ancient times, it meant the “face of the soil” — that kind of earth. That is precisely where God does the creating.  To feast on the harvest is also to acknowledge that God’s Spirit is active in the soil.  It is not by accident that St. Paul refers to the “fruit of the Spirit”.  Fruit arises from the very dynamism of a plant or tree’s growth.  It is the continuing dynamic of the gift, not some product of our discipline or invention.  St. Paul also uses the interesting phrase: “we were all made to drink of one Spirit”, maintaining the context of harvest feasting, while grafting yet another dimension to this liturgical celebration.

What is predominant for Christians, of course, is the coinciding of this ancient observance and the spectacular emergence of the apostles and disciples on the Jerusalem scene, drawing the interest of peoples from everywhere in the known world to a new creativity of God’s Spirit.  On that Pentecost a new community was born that recognized and honored the gifts of God’s creativity within human relationships:  Saint Paul says “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”.  This is a whole new vision of human life, breaking down the barriers of race, slavery, sexism, even languages.  And it was bold.  This little group had been closeted away in fear, but now, experiencing a kind of tsunami of Divine creativity, went about very publicly proclaiming that creativity.

St. Paul immortalized the generativity of this fruit of the Spirit’s creativity:

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

While these could be recognized by anyone as positive virtues, now they are identified as the way in which the Spirit is generating the very presence of Christ in the human community.  “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit”

The special hymn for today’s liturgy (the Sequence) describes the very down-to-earth ways we can detect and respond to that Spirit:

Father of the poor; of consolers — wisest, best; in our labor, rest… pleasant coolness in the heat; light…shining with grace in our heart’s most secret place.

And the hymn points to specific targets of the Spirit’s creativity in our lives:  “Arid souls refresh within; Wounded lives to health restore… Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the wayward home once more!”

The Feast of Pentecost we have inherited is rich with all these meanings.  It can be celebrated in a restrictive way, however; rejoicing in the earliest moments of the community we call the Church, and the promise that in the Holy Spirit we have an Advocate who will guide the it through the ages, while neglecting the myriad dimensions of the Spirit’s creativity.

But what if we really pay attention to the garden back-grounding these scriptures?  Today can be a day of heightened sensitivity to all aspects of Divine creativity. Through the awe-inspiring insights of today’s science, we can observe the new spring growth for the miracle that it is. In our contemplation we can savor so much more of what we imply when we ask the Spirit to “take up rest” in our hearts. That “rest” is imaged much better by fire and fierce wind than by repose. Like the first disciples, we might be able to shed our fearfulness and exhibit a bold attitude of trust in the Spirit who renews the face of the soil.  That attitude will fortify us for the demanding work of healing the wounds we have inflicted on the Earth.  Pentecost then, regaining its ancient authentic link to the sacredness of the land, will demonstrate its creativity in hope for future generations.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• When have you been surprised by the creative work of the Spirit in nature?
• Recall a moment when you open yourself to the creative power of the Holy Spirit in your own life and in relationship with others?
• What happened? What were the results? What did you learn?