Pentecost

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. If you remember on Pentecost the Apostles are still sitting in the upper room where they have basically been hiding since Easter Sunday—surely suffering from a little cabin fever?? Suddenly there was a great rush of wind that filled the room and suddenly “tongues of flame” appeared on the apostles and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now, you can imagine the racket this must have made----gusts of wind inside the house (makes you wonder how many collectables and nick/nacks were broken, “Oh no! My Elvis in Hawaii ceramic statue!!”), tongues of flame, people talking---it drew attention and before you know it there was a crowd of people outside. And they were from EVERYWHERE---a bunch of places that neither you or I have ever heard of but rest assured they are all from faraway places---from Rome to Asia to Egypt. And most remarkably, these foreigners were able to hear the Apostles preach to them in their own language.

We celebrate Pentecost once a year but we really need to make Pentecost a daily occurrence in our own lives and to allow those flames to burn in us.

I worry sometimes that I don’t do that. I realized it a few weeks ago before the gospel reading when we make a cross on our forehead, mouth and heart while saying a silent prayer, “may the Gospel be on my mind, on my lips and in my heart” and the fear struck me—do I allow God into my heart where it matter the most. While not a biblical scholar by any means, I would say that I am comfortably familiar with my faith and allow the gospel to be on my mind. I have reached the point where I am comfortable speaking about my faith and allow the gospel on my lips (demonstrated by my blog). But do I let the Gospel into my heart? Do I allow that flame to burn deeply in me?? Obviously there must be embers or else I wouldn’t know my faith or be comfortable talking about it. I want more than embers though—I want a raging inferno. I want to be passionate in my love for God and I often feel that I am lacking. I don't feel like I love others like I should or that my tendency to sin takes me away from God.
I think to do this I have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in me and fortunately we have the sacraments so that we may receive the grace that we need.

I very much want to see where He leads me. We all have to trust in the Lord and go where He leads us. It may not be where we expect or even where we want. But as Paul says in our second reading, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces them all in everyone.”

So allow every day to be Pentecost in your own spiritual life and trust in God—allow Him to lead you to where He wants you to go and to do what He wants you to do. Surly we will be surprised by the spiritual gains that we make and the the gifts that He produces through us if we only allow Pentecost to occur daily.