Living Pentecost
Scripture Acts 2:1-11
Reading
“When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues of fire, appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
Reflection
On that wonderful 50th day - Pentecost - there was released upon the world a magnificent overflow of Divine Energy. The community had been waiting in this upper room – a humble place in the heart of the city of Jerusalem. It was a home where they had often gone to pray and feast and celebrate their friendships. For days now they sat together in quiet pondering, grappling with all that had unfolded in these last weeks since Jesus died and rose again. And then one morning while they were in prayer, Pentecost came upon them with a sudden burst of awakening. With sounds and sensory overflow - they knew they were being filled inwardly by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was returning as He promised and was pouring forth His Spirit within them.
Pentecost- is associated with breath and wind. The Spirit is all about life and energy. The Spirit’s coming will make us catch our breath. We are really filled with an energy, a vitality, an energy that is not just physical, it is a spiritual energy, a spiritual aliveness, a passion for life, for all of life! The breath of God is for the re-creation of the world. “Behold I make all things new.” All of us are to participate in the new Kingdom! The life of God in you and the life of God in me, in all of us, in all of creation, starts to sing! The Spirit entering our lives afresh starts nudging people to dream new dreams for our world where there is no discrimination, no war, and no prejudice. The Spirit inspires visions of justice, equality and peace. Shekinah - the breath of the Spirit - continues to whisper through contemporary prophets with their visions that shake people up. Structures and institutions, political and ecclesial, are being shaken up by the Spirit, who is making all things new.
Pentecost is associated with Fire, tongues of fire. For as the Spirit of Jesus came upon that community, each one received a tongue of fire, an inner touch of the Divine Energy - a spark of the Fire of Divine Love. Each person received a particular gift of the Spirit that empowered them for some particular ministry within the community. As we come full circle into our Pentecost days we too will experience a deep fire of God’s love inflowing our person, giving us all the grace and courage and peace we need to do our unique mission on earth. We are becoming persons of fire, persons on fire with the Divine love energy. This fire comes forth out of us when we are in love and deeply committed and passionate about something - the Reign of God here and now! God’s work amongst us is refining, purifying, and now energizing us for love and service. So, may we fan the flames of Spirit-fire over the entire cosmos. May we start living with reverent awe upon the earth, living mindful of others with one mind and one spirit with everything, living in balance and harmony with all creation.
May our hearts be merry on the journey as we dream new dreams and see new visions and hope new hopes for humanity. As we feel the cycle of our completeness within us, we look out into the community and see those who need our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our compassionate love. Our ‘Pentecosts’ fill us with a ‘burning’. There is enkindled a kind of constant loving that keeps on keeping on. An inward burning of love that transcends the difficulties and contradictions and continues on because the strong inward call of God just makes it happen that one goes on.
On that first Pentecost day, the disciples were filled with the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, piety, awe of the Lord. They experienced in these the energy and the vitality and overflow of this Spirit-life welling up within them. These ‘gifts of the Spirit’ would be manifested in particular ministries or services that would build up the whole community. The particular service each one was sent to do became their unique mission in and for the world: one will be a teacher, another an administrator, one a preacher, another will heal and some will be helpers. All these services will be done in the one Spirit of Jesus and all will be used to build up the Reign of God. The promise is being fulfilled: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will bear witness for me in Jerusalem and all over Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
The new Mission is about to start ... When those disciples emerged from the “upper room” in Jerusalem and started speaking in the streets, many were raised to a new consciousness; many were converted to the Gospel and embraced the new Jesus message. And that same day, many just thought they were drunk on new wine! For us too in our Pentecost days, there will be both excitement and fear, confusion and joy, in the Spirit declarations of our day also. When we emerge speaking with a new voice, speaking from a new paradigm, the shaking and the winds will be heard! Some will be happy and some will be shocked! So when Pentecost people come into our life, we may sense they have a new consciousness, they have a larger picture of how we are all to be here. They will speak messages to us of love and nonviolence. They will speak about all of us already being one. We are all connected. There is no separation. There is only unity – we are all children of God! Some may not yet be able to receive our Pentecost fire, our Pentecost voice. But we will be able to endure those contradictions, those misunderstandings, because the gift of courage, the gift of fortitude, the gift of wisdom grounds us in the new life we are living. The power of Spirit will support us. “You will speak in My name. If you go before the courts, do not be afraid what you will say, I will speak through you.”
And that is what started happening and is still happening to this very day all around the world. The Spirit of God here with us in this sharing and in all the little communities gathered around the world. Many of us are praying for God’s action within us as we, as a world community, undergo the paschal mystery at a level and intensity that will cost us the greatest love. Pentecost is the firm foundation of our faith journey. Rooted and grounded in the heart of God’s life and love we can create a new world of peace and harmony, of justice and compassion. The world today is waiting for more Pentecost souls to burn - burn with this great love and this great desire: “May they all be one.”
Carrying Grace Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
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