June 5th 2022. Pentecost Sunday

GOSPEL: John 20: 19 - 23

 

From a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

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Gospel: John 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus

 

SUMMARY

The Holy Spirit respects our freedom. We are not puppets in his hands. He wishes us to enter into a personal relationship and adhere to him in the depths of our being. Jesus tells us that the Spirit takes up residence in us. The deepest part of us - our hearts - becomes his temple. And if someone is living with you on this deep level, then you acquire his habits. But what are these habits? Do we start doing extraordinary things? No. We start to do the ordinary things in an extraordinary way. And he guides the development of our minds and hearts so that we have a natural love for what is good, clean and simple. By contrast, those who do not have intimacy with the Spirit, have a fascination for what is ambiguous, scandalous and perverse. With Pentecost begins the epoch of the Church, an epoch in which men and women allow the Holy Spirit to operate through them. The Church is not a collection of extraordinary or super-talented people, but ordinary people who have been visited by the extraordinary love of God and who, by their actions, express the love that they have experienced.

 

1. The Holy Spirit respects our freedom. He wants us to adhere to him in freedom.

The Greek term "Paraclete" corresponds to the Latin ad-vocatus and literally means "one who is called near". It ancient times, the defence lawyer did not speak in place of the defendant, but stood by him and advised him on how to defend himself. The Holy Spirit does not do things for us but advises us what to do. We can accept or neglect his inspirations. Our freedom is precious in the eyes of the Lord and the Holy Spirit does not abuse our freedom, but nurtures an adult personal relationship. With him, one walks in free adherence, not by force or constraint. Sometimes, in our spiritual immaturity, we want to be managed like slaves, asking for orders and instructions to get out of difficult situations, but faith does not work like that. Instead, obligation and compulsion characterize temptation, as is evident when a vice dominates a person's life: then one is a slave, not a free person.

 

2. If we open the door to the Holy Spirit, then we will have intimacy with God. This intimacy involves having the Lord dwelling in us. This is not about some extraordinary experience, but living ordinary experiences in extraordinary ways.

The Holy Spirit by nature inspires, touches inwardly. And if the door is opened to him by us, then it leads to intimacy with God. The Gospel uses a remarkable expression to speak of this intimacy: "We will take up residence with him". In the Old Testament, the dwelling place of God was the Temple. The new temple of God is the heart of man, the deepest part of his being. "Taking up residence" is the opposite of a casual or transient relationship. Living at home with someone naturally leads to the development of habits. While some think that the Christian life is the fulfilment of a series of external duties, in reality it is a matter of living out good habits, in a stable, continuous relationship. It is not about living the exceptional but the ordinary. It is not about doing beautiful things, but about doing everything according to beauty. It is not about doing something extraordinary, but doing the ordinary in an extraordinary way.

 

3. The Holy Spirit does not guide us like puppets. He speaks to us in the depths of our hearts. He teaches us and leads us to a sense of the good and an aversion for evil.

On the feast of Pentecost, it is right to ask what it means to be guided by the Holy Spirit. You can think of an external guide, a sort of navigator that moment by moment says whether to turn right or left. But if the Holy Spirit were like that, we would be puppets, not people. The Holy Spirit speaks instead in the depths, where he teaches and remembers, making the heart grow, familiarizing us with the good and developing our instinct for what is simple and clear. Consequently we feel at ease in love, tenderness and care, and discomfort with what is turbid and perverse. On the other hand those who have the spirit of the world have sympathy for what is ambiguous and wayward, are intrigued by speaking ill, are amused by transgression, seek satisfaction and pleasure at every moment, dislike simple and linear things. Permit me to make an unusual analogy: goodness is like a beautiful girl who does not place herself at the centre of attention, but when you see her simple beauty you are attracted to her immediately. Evil is like an unattractive girl who is plastered with make-up and seeks to seduce. Evil seduces, good respects. Good does not impose itself. They do not play the same game. Whoever has the Holy Spirit has learned the difference.

 

4. The Church is not a collection of extraordinary or super-talented people, but ordinary people who have been visited by the extraordinary love of God and who, by their actions, express the love that they have experienced.

When the apostles are visited by tongues of fire – in other words, when a word of fire has entered their hearts – a multitude of people of different ethnic backgrounds hear in their own languages the proclamation of the great works of God. The Holy Spirit does not speak of our works but of the works of God. Let us recall that the Acts of the Apostles were written by Luke, the same Evangelist whose Gospel begins with the annunciation to Mary and her response: “Let it be done onto me according to your word”. What the Church announces is the power of God. Our vocation is to be open to the work of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit does not announce moralism or ethics but the power of the Father to recreate us and bring us to fullness. The epoch of the Church is the epoch in which men and women allow the Holy Spirit to operate in them. The Church is God working through men. It is not extraordinary or peculiar people different to others, but ordinary people who are visited by the extraordinary love of God and who express through their actions the love that they have experienced. To this we are all called.