By Shiju Joseph csc –
Readings: Acts 2: 1-11; 1 Cor 12: 3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20: 19-23
Jesus promised his apostles an outpouring of the Spirit. The apostles waited, as instructed by Jesus, for the coming of the Spirit. They waited in prayer, in communion with each other and with Mother Mary.
The apostles had been through a lot: glorious days when they were known as the inner circle of a miracle-worker, the despair of the arrest, persecution and execution of their master, the confusion and exuberance from seeing him alive, astonishment at his ascension, and fear of the authorities.
It was time to take a good look at their own lives in the light of their experiences, and to make new beginnings. They just did not know what future held for them. They only knew the promises made by Jesus: ‘wait until you receive the Holy Spirit,’ and, ‘I will be with you until the end of time.’ They waited expectantly and prayed fervently for the promised Holy Spirit. And when the Spirit came, the change in them was dramatic. They immediately knew what their lives were to devoted to, and what they had to do.
In what way did our lives change because Holy Spirit is in us? St. Paul reminded us that we are ‘the temple of the Holy Spirit’(1 Cor 6:19). Pentecost is not a magical moment in the lives of individual apostles. It is an experience of the Spirit when true prayer meets true communion.
Such experiences continued in the lives of the believers when prayer and communion came together (Acts 4:24-31). It was this Spirit that empowered them with courage and wisdom in the face of persecution and applause. Let us pray for such an experience of Pentecost in our life: an experience of the Spirit born of true communion with our fellow believers and truly fervent prayer. Then, we can stand up with courage and communicate the message of Jesus to everyone regardless of their ethnicity and language.