Pentecost Sunday: Receiving a Spirit of Peace and Unity

Lectionary Readings:

• Acts 2:1-11. The Awesome descent of the Spirit, so that all are caught up in wonder and hear the marvels of God spoken in their own tongue.
• 1 Corinthian 12:3-7, 12-13. There are different gifts but the same Spirit. In the one Spirit all of us were baptized into one body [and] have been given to drink of the one Spirit.
• John 20:19-23. Jesus breathed upon the disciples, gathered together in a locked room; he conferred the Holy Spirit and the power of forgiving sin.

 Thoughts for your Consideration:

This week is Pentecost Sunday. The lectionary readings focus on the awesome power of the Holy Spirit as it descends upon the disciples and as it is expressed by members of the early Christian community. In the Acts of the Apostles the event is described in the midst of powerful and richly symbolic natural events. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit produces great confusion among the Jewish bystanders who happen to witness this event; some are curiously impressed while many scoff at what they perceive as an apparent drunken stupor.  Peter is left defending himself and his colleagues from this accusation by suggesting that it is too early in the day to be drunk and then he places this confusing event within the context of the prophetic tradition by citing the words of the prophet Joel. The conclusion of this citation ends with a salvific message for all of God’s people, “and it shall be that everyone shall be saved who calls on the name of the Lord.”

In his letter to the Corinthians St. Paul describes the great gifts of the Spirit that is shared to the various members of the early church. St. Paul makes a very clear point in highlighting the supreme unity of the One Spirit in the midst of this great diversity of gifts and talents that emanate from it. St. Paul cannot seem to emphasize this point enough. It is suggested in scripture commentaries that the Corinthian church had begun to establish ethnic and social discrimination in its early community. In this passage St. Paul needs to emphasize the unity that exists between the Jews and Greeks as well as the free people and the slaves. In the Gospel reading Jesus prepares his disciples for this event by establishing a culture of peace on them. He keeps emphasizing that they be at peace before they receive the Spirit.

While the first reading describes the event of Pentecost the next two readings remind us that the great and awesome gifts of the Spirit can only serve the mission of promoting unity and it can only be received and utilized through a culture of peace.      

Many of us who are Catholics have gone through the Sacrament of Confirmation. For many of us the wondrous natural events that we read about in Acts did not accompany our own reception of this Sacrament. We may end up spiritualizing this sacramental event or dismissing it altogether. I have come to admire a medieval Catholic theological formula that helps explain our own growth into the gifts of the Holy Spirit and our own orientation towards the supreme good that is God.

Medieval theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas believed that we have an aspect of God within each and every one of us, this divine spark was called synderesis. It was thought (and continues to be studied in contemporary moral theology) that an essence towards the orientation towards God was built within our own DNA structure. This element is what allowed us to believe that some actions and judgments were self-evident in all of humanity. Through synderesis all humanity had deep within themselves an orientation on what was called the first principles of the natural order. The general concepts that most codified laws including the Ten Commandments had, such as regulating against murder and thievery and promoting values of charity and mutual respect, emanate from some kind of self-evident principles that come to us directly from the divine source. Our own American Declaration of Independence suggest three self-evident principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if these principles are self-evident then they are known to us through the divine knowledge of the good that we have through synderesis.

But synderesis is only one habit within our conscience that judges for us the actions we must take. Our actions towards the good are often clouded by our own self-interest and passions. Thus we require the Holy Spirit to make its impression felt on us so that we can awaken the divine spark within each of us and recognize that divine essence in all others. To do the supreme good (rather than our own good) we must allow the Holy Spirit to affect us. As a sacrament Confirmation offers us the grace to receive the power that will awaken the divine spark in us. The power of the Holy Spirit will then give strength to our own existing orientation to do the supreme good. It will also awaken in us the particular gifts that we are given to fulfill the supreme good. While Confirmation grants us the moment to allow ourselves to be open to this reception we must always pray that the Holy Spirit continue to nurture us with this grace since our other social and personal distractions will continue to cloud our judgments.

Keep in mind however that this can only happen within the context of a couple necessary dispositions. First, we must be aligned under a spirit and culture of peace. Second we must only use these gifts to build up the Kingdom of God in unity and without imposing any barriers of discrimination to the love that we are all entitled to. We all already exist within the supreme unity and orientation to God. We all share a supreme equality with each other through the divine dignity that exists in our very nature. In the spirit of peace and unity let us be receptive to the power of the Holy Spirit in awakening this orientation to do the supreme good and to live in harmony with each other.

One Response to “Pentecost Sunday: Receiving a Spirit of Peace and Unity”

1. Jonathan Ewings says:

   July 6, 2010 at 10:06 am

   After browsing this particular blog post I have chosen to sign up to your rss feed. I believe your coming posts will be just as educational.