PENTEC0ST – B - 2021
With the Solemnity of Pentecost, we have reached the end of the Easter
season.
We will see how Pentecost has had different names and meanings over
the centuries.
During the Jewish celebration of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent
by the Father to the Church.
The Spirit will be with the Church always, but not only with the
Church but with every human being. The Spirit was poured out upon all flesh.
The Spirit is the source of the renewed youth of the Church, He brings
the eternal newness of God to our humanity that so many times feels comfortable
with its ageing not willing to take chances in life.
PENTECOST
v
Every Israelite had to present himself before YHWH, three times a
year: the second of these feasts became
Pentecost.
In Ex 23:16 it is called
the Feast of the Grain Harvest.
v
In the book of Number 28:26 it
is called the Feast of the First
Fruits.
v
In the book of Deuteronomy 16:10
it is called the Feast of
weeks because this feast was
celebrated seven weeks after the feast of the Unleavened Bread (Passover.)
v
It was also called the Feast of
the 50th day (Pentecost) because it
was celebrated 50 days after the first grain offering Lev
23,9-14
v
This feast became a historical feast in which the people remembered
the Covenant on Mount Sinai, and the
New Covenant promised by God through
the prophets Jeremiah 31,31-34 and Ezekiel 36 :22-28, and fulfilled by Jesus in
his Paschal Mystery.
v On the day of Pentecost, the Father sent upon the Church the Spirit Jesus had promised.
FIRST READING: Acts 2:1-11
Ø
The strong driving wind that filled the house, takes us to the
beginning of creation when the Spirit of God as a mighty wind covered the
abyss.
Ø
The noise, the fire, all these strong forces of nature remind us of
the theophany on Mount Sinai, when God talked to Moses and made a Covenant with
his people, giving them the Law.
Ø
The tongues of fire: fire, enthusiasm, to proclaim the marvels
accomplished by Christ Jesus.
Ø
The "miracle" of the tongues that made possible for all to
understand what the Apostles were announcing to them. This takes us to Babel,
where people of one tongue could not understand each other due to greed, pride,
sin. Pentecost is the opposite of Babel; the Holy Spirit makes those who are
different, opposite, enemies become brothers and sisters, to love one another.
Ø
I will copy below two quotations from the Jewish tradition about the
event on Mount Sinai:
·
God did not have mouth or tongue, but by means of a wonderful act he decided
that a thunder should be heard in the air and a blast should be articulated
into words putting the air in motion. This became fire that had the shape of
flames... a voice resounded amid the fire and descended from heaven and this
voice spoke the dialect of each one of those who heard it. (Jewish
Philosopher called Filon explained in this fashion the divine theophany on
Sinai.)
·
When the voice of God was pronounced on Sinai it divided itself into
seventy voices so that all the nations could understand. The Hebrew people believed
that there were 70 nationalities in the world.
(My translation of both
quotations which have been taken from the book
Gianfranco Ravasi Según
las Escrituras- Ciclo C").
Ø All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Ø Through the 2000 years of history since the First Pentecost, the Church has made present the wonderful event of Pentecost among all the nations, sometimes silently, some other times loudly, through the life and mission of men and women from all nations: of parents, missionaries, catechists, priests, sons, and daughters, .... the complete list would be too long. The enemies become friends, the foreigner and stranger are welcomed into the local community.
Sequence — Veni, Sancte Spiritus
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial
home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our
store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the
best;
You, the soul's most
welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here
below;
In our labor, rest most
sweet;
Grateful coolness in the
heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light
divine,
Shine within these hearts
of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we
have naught,
Nothing good in deed or
thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our
strength renew;
On our dryness pour your
dew;
Wash the stains of guilt
away:
Bend the stubborn heart
and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the
chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who
adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift
descend;
Give them virtue's sure
reward;
Give them your salvation,
Lord;
Give them joys that never
end. Amen.
Alleluia.
SECOND READING 1 Cor 12:3b-7,12-13
Paul says that no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. But it is not enough to pronounce words or
sounds, but this sentence must come from our faith, our trust, and our love for
Jesus.
Paul helps his community realize
that there are different gifts, that everyone has his or her own gifts, which
God gives to us to accomplish a mission in the community.
And to help his community to
understand better, he makes the wonderful comparison of the human body, which
has many members, but it is one body.
Through baptism we are united
to Christ
And we were all given to drink
of one Spirit.
In the first reading Luke uses
the symbol of fire, wind and tongues. In the second reading water is the symbol
used to describe who the Spirit is.
GOSPEL Jn 20:19-23
v
In the first reading we have seen how Luke explains the coming of the
Holy Spirit upon the Church using images taken from the Old Testament, from the
traditions of Israel and even of the peoples surrounding it.
v
In the Gospel the Church invites us to reflect on the mystery of the
coming of the Holy Spirit in the way John explains it.
v
According to the Gospel of John, the Lord came and stood in their
midst, on the evening of the same day of his Resurrection.
v
And in this meeting with them he gave the Holy Spirit
·
But before giving them his Spirit
·
Jesus gives them
Peace thus they will be able to offer it to
others.
·
Jesus sends them. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. We know that through baptism we have been submerged
in Christ to participate of his life and cooperate in his mission "the
salvation of all men and women."
· Jesus gives to them the power to forgive sins. He will cooperate with them; he will accept and support the decisions they will make. Maybe we must explain this a little bid more. We need to be attentive to his inner voice who speaks to us so that our decisions coincide with his decisions “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
We have seen the two accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit, one from the Gospel of John, Jesus gives his spirit the same day of his resurrection. In fact, in the Gospel of John Jesus gives his Spirit, on the cross.
On Pentecost the Church is born,
·
it has been conceived and nurtured in the heart of God the Father from
all eternity.
·
Jesus began to form it with his disciples
· and now it is made visible to the world by the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost.
CLARETIAN CORNER
J.M.J.
To Mother Antonia de S. Pedro
Gracia[1], 18 December 1865
My dear Mother in J.C., I have
received your two letters, one of the 8th and the other of the 17th
of the current month. After reading them
I have to tell you that the trip to Rome was very good, as well as the sojourn
in that holy City. The
Most Holy Father received me with love and kindness. He gave the necessary provisions in regards to
the principal object of my trip, and until they are fulfilled I have to remain
here; but I think that soon I will be able to go to Madrid, where great
tribulations await me and thus, entrust me much to God because I really need it to bear with patience so many persecutions.
As for the foundation in Reus I give you this advice, the
Archbishop of Tarragona should make the petition as diocesan, or the one in
charge in Reus, in whose name the petition shall be made and afterwards there
must be an agent here in Madrid that should be the same that the Archbishop
has, or another, for an agent is of absolute necessity to go back and forth and
deal with the Ministries, and that by
the way is time consuming. I know it by
experience, how much it required from the School Sisters in the town of
Calella.
When the agent is in
charge, he should have the kindness to see me in Madrid and I will help him in
what I can in regards of obtaining the approval.
As for the Rules, I have already explained to Currius how it will have
to be done in order to advance the process of the approval.
I just have received a letter from Madrid telling me to return there
Happy feasts, greet all the sisters in my name.
Antonio María Arzobispo. de Trajanópolis (Letters of the Origins, Letter 248)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
HAAG,
H; VAN DER BORN, A; DE AUSEJO, S. Diccionario de la Biblia (Bible Dictionnary),
Editorial Herder 1981.
|
RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según Las
Escrituras (According to the Scriptures), Year C, 2006. Cartas de los orígenes (Letters of the Beginnings) Misioneras Claretianas,
2009. |
