On Pentecost, we Christians celebrate the final day of the great feast of Easter, the day marked by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles to empower them to continue and bring to completion the work of Christ. The ancient Jewish feast of Pentecost foreshadowed this Christian feast as the commemoration of the giving of the law of Mount Sinai. For the faithful Jew, observance of the law was the way of fulfilling the Covenant (celebrated at Passover) in daily life.

One set of readings is given for the evening before the feast itself (the vigil), and these convey a sense of anticipation. The readings of the feast day speak of fulfillment. Our consideration of all the readings will enable us to see the theme of Pentecost completeness developed in them. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, enthronement at the Father’s right hand, and sending of the Spirit are all aspects of one saving act of God. The new life of glory that belongs to Jesus in his resurrection is ours through the coming of the Spirit.

Jesus is the pivot point of history, the fulfillment of all past expectation (v 38), who promises to be the source of life for all time. Note in v 39 that the Gospel author connects the resurrection and glorification of Jesus with the coming of his Spirit — the Spirit is the gift of Jesus who passed through death, and is raised to glory. By the power of the Spirit, the disciple becomes a source of living water (living water means the saving word) just as Christ himself (see 4:14).

Chapters 7 and 8 in John (except for the adulteress story, which was added later) form one unit culminating in Jesus’ clear statement of his divinity in 8:58.

First Reading: there is a choice among four.

Genesis 11:1-9 depicts the fragmentation and alienation in human relationships that comes as a result of greed and self-interest. The confusion of tongues symbolizes the deeper disunity of heart caused by sin, while the many tongues of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-12) signal the unity of humankind restored in the Spirit.

Exodus 19:3-8,16-20 recalls the Hebrew origins of Pentecost, the command to live in accord with the Covenant. This is not an order expecting blind obedience or empty hope, but is based on the experience of God having already shown his saving love to his people.

Ezekiel 37:1-14, the famous vision of the dry bones being joined together again and enfleshed with new life, speaks of restoring the unity of the Israelite nation, which had become disintegrated and corrupt. However, we can see the fulfillment of this strikingly vivid image in the new life of the risen Christ that is the Spirit’s gift to humanity. (See also the commentary on the First Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A.)

Joel 3:1-5 paints a different and more personal picture than Ezekiel. The action of God’s Spirit lifts his people out of the ordinary, and challenges them to face the fullness of God’s work.

Different verses from the same psalm are chosen for the vigil and the feast day. The psalm, a hymn of praise to God for the creative work of his Spirit, depicts the goodness of creation, summed up in life and nourishment, as speaking of renewal in God’s Spirit. The verses chosen for the vigil emphasize the hunger of God’s people for the life he gives them. Response: "Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth."

Our present condition of weakness and lack of perfection gives evidence of our need for redemption. But the life of the Spirit enables us to rise above these present limitations, and so his activity is the guarantee of future fulfillment. The Spirit is also the source of our prayer, the only sure foundation from which we can address God. We have now, imperfectly and initially, what will be fulfilled and perfected in eternity.

John portrays Jesus giving his promised gift of the Spirit in the evening of the day of his resurrection, and thus shows clearly that the Spirit is the fulfillment of the presence of the risen Christ in his followers. The Spirit is to continue Jesus’ mission of reconciliation, the heart of which is not preaching, but living what one preaches — in a word, forgiveness.

This forgiveness of sins should not be taken in a narrow legalistic sense, but should be seen as the entirety of God’s saving power which is his gift to the Church. The Christian community’s success or failure will be measured only by the degree to which its members are reconciled to one another — in other words, love. Forgiveness is the catalyst that enables reconciliation and love to happen.

We are not vending machines for God’s forgiveness. Our forgiveness of one another is the perceptible and genuine sign that God’s forgiveness is happening. This unconditional love and forgiveness is the distinguishing mark of a true Christian (Jn 13:34-35) because it is beyond unaided human powers (Mt 5:38-48) and therefore is a sign of the Spirit’s presence. Forgiveness and love are not merely ethical precepts, they are the overflow of the new life that is God’s gift.

Just as the Jewish feast of Pentecost, celebrated fifty days after Passover, was seen as the completion of the covenant, so the coming of the Spirit is celebrated as the completion of the new covenant accomplished in the Easter mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As narrated in Acts, the Holy Spirit is the source of the mission of witness to the resurrection and lordship of Jesus, which characterizes the entire life of the Church. In graphic and symbolic detail, this passage emphasizes the power of the Spirit impelling the disciples to go forth and preach the Word of Life to all people (v 4), and the universal effect of their mission (vv 5-11). With good reason the Acts of the Apostles is sometimes referred to as the "Gospel of the Holy Spirit."

These verses simply praise God for his eternal deeds, and thus foreshadow the new creation in the Spirit. Response: "Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth."

The diversity of gifts is not only the source of our glory as a Christian community, but unfortunately is also the reason why we need reconciliation —it is difficult to recognize and accept another’s uniqueness as a gift. Often we view others’ gifts with suspicion as a threat to our own. The Spirit gives this diversity of gifts (v 11), and we must allow the Spirit to open our eyes to see the unity in this diversity, and to proclaim the lordship of Jesus (v 3).

1. How do you recognize the Spirit’s activity in the Church? in your own life? in the lives of others?

2. How are peace and forgiveness important characteristics of the Christian life?