Jn. 20:19-23
Today we solemnly celebrate the humble beginning and the great inauguration of the Church in the world. Every celebration of this feast reminds us of the animating role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. The Holy Spirit was actively present in the redemptive mission of Christ. We have seen in the Old Testament that prophets were filled with the Holy Spirit, communicating the message of God to the people of Israel. However, this was a privilege of the chosen few; ordinary people did not have this grace, and the Spirit of God was unknown to them. The influence of human sin was a great barrier and hindrance to the Spirit of the Lord’s being able to indwell and work in us. The only exception we see is the blessed virgin Mary, who had the fullness of the Spirit. The redemptive sacrifice of Christ on the cross reconciled humanity’s broken relationship with Abba Father and freed humanity from its bondage of sin. Thus, through Christ’s meritorious sacrifice, God graced humanity to have this indwelling presence of the Spirit of God and also be filled by the gifts and fruits of the Spirit of God.
The feast of Pentecost was a significant moment in the history of humanity because it marked the advent of a new universal moment in history. We see in Jerusalem that people who belonged to different linguistic and cultural backgrounds gathered there. However, they could listen to the message of Christ in their own mother tongue. The Holy Spirit did not give them grace to understand the sermon of Peter in the language that he spoke; instead, the Holy Spirit enabled them to understand Peter’s speech in their respective mother tongues. Even in the midst of diversity, it is the spirit of the Lord that unites the Church of Christ.
In the second reading, Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, reminds us of this unifying role that the Spirit plays in the Church. He uses the analogy of the body and the organs, though there are different organs but one body, similarly, though there are diverse cultures and linguistic traditions, the Holy Spirit unites all of us as one single body in Christ. When we lose our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we also lose our spirit of unity and openness to embrace the virtues of other cultures. As a church, we need to rely more on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to grow in our relationship with the person of Christ and to become men and women of unity. As we celebrate this great feast of Pentecost, let us pray for the grace to have a new Pentecost in the church so that we may be filled by the Holy Spirit and grow into a universal mindset which transcends cultural and linguistic backgrounds and recognises Christ in our fellow brethren in spite of their language, nationality, culture etc. Thus, our church may become truly the universal Church of Christ.