First Reading Commentary
Shavuot, a Jewish festival mandated by the Law
of Moses is the root of the Christian celebration of Pentecost. Shavuot
commemorates the day when on Mount Sinai the Torah was given to the Jewish
people. In Scripture it is called the
"festival of weeks" (cf. Exodus
34:22 & Deuteronomy 16:10). It
is also labeled the "feast of the harvest" (cf. Exodus 23:16) and the "day of firstfruits" (cf. Numbers 28:26).
Pentecost
or "Pentekoste," the
transliterated word from the Greek, means "the fiftieth" and is
linked to Shavuot because Pentecost
arrives fifty days after Easter; and Shavuot
recalls the Torah being given on Mount Sinai fifty days after Israel's
departure from the land of Egypt. It is
actually during Shavuot "when
the time for Pentecost was fulfilled".
Blessed
Columba Marmion wrote: "The Holy Spirit appeared under the form of tongues
of fire in order to fill the apostles with truth and to prepare them to bear
witness to Jesus. He also came to fill
their hearts with love. He is the Person
of Love in the life of God. He is also like a breath, an aspiration of infinite
Love, from which we draw the breath of life.
On the day of Pentecost the Divine Spirit communicated such an abundance
of life to the whole Church that to symbolize it 'there came a sound from
heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they
[the apostles] were sitting.' The Holy
Spirit came to remain with the Church forever.
This is the promise of Jesus Himself.
He dwells in the Church permanently and unfailingly, performing in it
without ceasing, His action of life-giving and sanctification. He establishes the Church infallibly in the
truth. It is He Who makes the Church
blossom forth with a marvelous supernatural fruitfulness, for He brings to life
and full fruition in Virgins, Martyrs, Confessors, those heroic virtues which
are one of the marks of true sanctity" (Les Mysteres du Rosaire).
To
expound a little on Blessed Columba's thoughts about the tongues of fire
preparing the apostles to bear witness to Jesus, the image of tongues perhaps
more specifically points to the power that would be prevalent in the apostles'
preaching. Also coming to mind is a
statement made by Saint John the Baptist: "He [Christ] will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Luke
3:16). Our liturgical text reads
that the tongues "parted" which means that before the parting they
were together indicating the unity the Holy Spirit would give to the Church;
and then by parting intimates the dispersion of the Good News to all nations
and peoples. The universality of the Church
is revealed by the many nations and languages present and yet all understanding
the proclamations "of the mighty acts of God."
Acts
1:14 indicates that the Blessed Virgin Mary was present in the Upper Room. If there was ever a time the ancient world
needed a mother's assurance and love, this was it. Jesus is no longer physically present to the
apostles. It was surely a stressful
time; but they were all "persevering with one mind in prayer" (Acts 1:14). Perhaps it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who opened
their hearts to prayer. She did, after
all, exemplify trust in God at the Annunciation: "Behold the handmaid of
the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).
The Church teaches us where the Upper Room is for each of us in this prayer from the Feast of Our Lady of the Cenacle. Translated from Latin it reads as: “O God, Who in the solitude of the Cenacle, filled Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Your Mother, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, united in prayer with Your disciples; grant that we may so love to withdraw into the secret places of the heart, that by praying aright, we may be made worthy to be filled with these graces in abundance.”
Saint John Paul II shared these words: "In the atmosphere of expectation that prevailed in the Upper Room after the Ascension, what was Mary's position in relation to the descent of the Holy Spirit? Having already had a unique experience of the effectiveness of such a gift, the Blessed Virgin was in a condition to appreciate it more than anyone; indeed, she owed her Motherhood to the mysterious intervention of the Spirit, Who had made her the way by which the Savior came into the world. Unlike those in the Upper Room who were waiting in fearful expectation, she, fully aware of the importance of her Son's promise to the disciples, helped the community to be well disposed to the coming of the Paraclete. Thus, while her unique experience made her ardently long for the Spirit's coming, it also involved her in preparing the minds and hearts of those around her. It was appropriate that the first outpouring of the Spirit upon her, which had happened in view of her divine Motherhood, should be repeated and reinforced. Indeed, at the foot of the Cross Mary was entrusted with a new Motherhood, which concerned Jesus' disciples. It was precisely this mission that demanded a renewed gift of the Spirit. The Blessed Virgin therefore wanted it for the fruitfulness of her spiritual Motherhood. While at the moment of the Incarnation the Holy Spirit had descended upon her as a person called to take part worthily in the great mystery, everything is now accomplished for the sake of the Church, whose Image, Model and Mother Mary is called to be. Thus Pentecost is also a fruit of the Blessed Virgin's incessant prayer, which is accepted by the Paraclete with special favor because it is an expression of her Motherly love for the Lord's disciples. Responding to the prayer of the Blessed Virgin and the community gathered in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bestows the fullness of His gifts on the Blessed Virgin and those present, working a deep transformation in them for the sake of spreading the Good News. The Mother of Christ and His disciples are granted new strength and new apostolic energy for the Church's growth" (L'Osservatore Romano, June 4, 1997).
The Church teaches us where the Upper Room is for each of us in this prayer from the Feast of Our Lady of the Cenacle. Translated from Latin it reads as: “O God, Who in the solitude of the Cenacle, filled Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Your Mother, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, united in prayer with Your disciples; grant that we may so love to withdraw into the secret places of the heart, that by praying aright, we may be made worthy to be filled with these graces in abundance.”
Saint John Paul II shared these words: "In the atmosphere of expectation that prevailed in the Upper Room after the Ascension, what was Mary's position in relation to the descent of the Holy Spirit? Having already had a unique experience of the effectiveness of such a gift, the Blessed Virgin was in a condition to appreciate it more than anyone; indeed, she owed her Motherhood to the mysterious intervention of the Spirit, Who had made her the way by which the Savior came into the world. Unlike those in the Upper Room who were waiting in fearful expectation, she, fully aware of the importance of her Son's promise to the disciples, helped the community to be well disposed to the coming of the Paraclete. Thus, while her unique experience made her ardently long for the Spirit's coming, it also involved her in preparing the minds and hearts of those around her. It was appropriate that the first outpouring of the Spirit upon her, which had happened in view of her divine Motherhood, should be repeated and reinforced. Indeed, at the foot of the Cross Mary was entrusted with a new Motherhood, which concerned Jesus' disciples. It was precisely this mission that demanded a renewed gift of the Spirit. The Blessed Virgin therefore wanted it for the fruitfulness of her spiritual Motherhood. While at the moment of the Incarnation the Holy Spirit had descended upon her as a person called to take part worthily in the great mystery, everything is now accomplished for the sake of the Church, whose Image, Model and Mother Mary is called to be. Thus Pentecost is also a fruit of the Blessed Virgin's incessant prayer, which is accepted by the Paraclete with special favor because it is an expression of her Motherly love for the Lord's disciples. Responding to the prayer of the Blessed Virgin and the community gathered in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bestows the fullness of His gifts on the Blessed Virgin and those present, working a deep transformation in them for the sake of spreading the Good News. The Mother of Christ and His disciples are granted new strength and new apostolic energy for the Church's growth" (L'Osservatore Romano, June 4, 1997).
Second Reading Commentary
What
Saint Paul is trying to impress upon us is that "different kinds of
spiritual gifts" or "different forms of service" or
"different workings" should not cause division. We are a great diversity of people called to
unity.
The
physical body and its "many parts" is useful imagery for trying to
understand the mystical body. Saint Paul
uses the word "different" three times in this short Reading. We are all different – in fact, we are all
unique. No two people are exactly the
same. God produces spiritual gifts in
each of us and calls us to service for the sake of the entire mystical body.
Saint
Ambrose very directly taught: "Recall then that you have received the spiritual
seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and
courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in
God's Presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you
with His sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed His pledge, the
Spirit, in your hearts" (De
mysteriis). The
need to guard anything suggests that it could escape or be taken away.
Our
Savior tells us that whosoever shall drink of the water which He gives, it
shall become a well of water springing up unto everlasting life (cf. John 4:14). Saint Paul tells us in the Reading that this
drink is the Spirit. Once again, Saint
Ambrose continues with that thought and adds: "This well is clearly the
grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fount. The Holy
Spirit, then, is also the Fount of eternal life" (ibid.).
Gospel Commentary
Our
Lord's appearance through locked doors might seem like forced entry and thus
incompatible with Love. But God knows
our hearts, therefore, our Savior not only loves with a boundless love all
those who are on the other side of the door, but He also knows that they love
Him and it is out of fear that the doors are locked.
In
the spiritual life perhaps there are aspects of it in which we have locked the
doors of our hearts. Sacramentally, here
are some common things that are said: "I can't go to Confession and tell
Father what I have done – what will he think of me?" Or, "The priest is just a man, what do I
need him for? Can't I just go directly
to God?!"
Back
in 1947 there was a rather humorous movie titled: "Life with
Father". The film centers on a turn
of the century wealthy family in New York.
The eccentric husband and his wife are the parents of five sons. It is discovered early on in the film that
the father had never been baptized. From
that point on his family keeps gnawing at him to get baptized even though he is
dead set against it. In the end when he
finally agrees or actually is kind of tricked into it, as the mother gathers up
her five children in order for the family to hop on a horse and carriage and
head off to church to get their father baptized, the father asks somewhat
angrily, "Must the children witness this indignity?"
The
sacraments were instituted by our Savior; and as far as entertaining thoughts
of: "There must be another way," only Jesus knows. Even the father in the film in his wishful
thinking boldly said: "They can't keep me out of heaven on a
technicality!" All we know by means
of Scripture and Tradition is how Jesus architected the dispersing of grace and
our Lord's specific design for reconciliation is revealed in this Gospel:
"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose
sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained." When adult baptism is
seen as undignified or the many excuses that arise for avoiding Confession,
perhaps it is a sign that there are hearts with locked doors. And it doesn't mean that God is loved less
because of our excuses or fears of embarrassment or the fear of emptying
ourselves to a priest. The more
attention that one gives to the spiritual life, the more one realizes that
we're all in a war zone. The battle for
the human soul is waged all around us nonstop.
The
third chapter of the Book of Genesis tells us that the serpent is the craftiest
of all; and original sin has already inflicted us with a disease that is
adamant about being in control of everything ourselves. Knowing that, it's quite convenient for the
serpent to bombard us with the thought of: "Did God really say…?" (Genesis 3:1). Jesus touches us through His Holy Spirit and
challenges us to meditate on "His Hands and His Side". This is Almighty God Who stands before us
with these Wounds. From a human
perspective, shouldn't our Lord feel undignified or embarrassed? A deep absorption into these Wounds, however,
will undoubtedly disclose that love is the reason for them – and love conquers
all. In this Gospel the apostles get
that. Don't forget they love Him too as
we love Him; and what should have been a room full of uncomfortable looking
faces staring at this marred Man, instead there was rejoicing. Since they love Jesus, if the doors of their
hearts locked Him out because of the shame of abandoning Him, Jesus, because
there is mutual love, is able by His Divine Power to go through those locked
doors.
In our own fears of
embarrassment, shame, mockery or just the struggle to surrender our will to
God, all of which can make fulfilling the mission of being sent an obstacle, as
long as Jesus is loved, He will in His own time appear through those locked
doors. If we're willing to keep fighting
the good fight in this life full of distractions and temptations, the day will
come when we will close our eyes to this world and finally gaze upon the Face
we have been seeking our whole life and He may say: "Peace be with you." And then what will follow is an undeniable
assurance that this Peace will remain with us uninterrupted for all eternity.
