Pentecost Sunday
Fr Dominic’s Homily
It was the feast of Harvest festival and a time of pilgrimage. Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from many countries as we heard in those readings of places with unpronounceable names!
The people were celebrating the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai from the fire of the mountain accompanied with loud thunder. So really today’s feast of Pentecost is a replaying of what happens in the Old Testament at Mount Sinai as part of the Old Covenant.
So Pentecost arises from a Jewish feast. Through the person of Jesus all the Jewish feasts find their true meaning and fulfilment.
Jesus has been saying that he had to leave us and return at a later date with the spirit of truth. And what do we hear happens? Mary and the disciples meet in the upper room and the Holy Spirit appears and reigns down upon them in tongues of fire. Not to give them the old law of the Torah written in tablets of stone by God the Father but the new law which is to be written in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
This explains why there are tongues of fire and not white doves appearing on the disciples. It emulates Mount Sinai and Moses. And it shows the power and divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Old covenant was for the 12 tribes of Israel and now this New Covenant is for the 12 disciples on Mount Zion.
Now this is the point where the disciples - those who are simply learning from Jesus - become apostles meaning people who are sent out on mission because now they are sent out on Mission with confidence.
The disciples can now speak different languages supernaturally this is what is meant by speaking in tongues here in Luke’s Gospel. And all these people from those complicated sounding towns understand them. In other words it undoes the sin of the tower of Babel where everyone got divided by different languages.
The only way the world will ever be united is through the power and love of the Holy Spirit.
Paul speaks about another type of speaking in tongues that is perhaps more of a supernatural type of speaking that requires the discernment of the Holy Spirit both to speak and to understand.
Scientists are realising that there is so much more to language and speech than we realise. It’s the ability to communicate ones being and very essence to another. This is itself a supernatural ability that has profound effects on people around us. It touches on the infinite and is part of what makes us truly human. At the end of the day most problems in our lives and in the world are as a result of poor communication for one reason or another.
God wants us to communicate his message of truth to those around us. What is truth? When you hear it your heart burns within you. It makes your heart resonate. Goodness, beauty and truth all have this supernatural effect on us. Because we are spiritual beings.
The Holy Spirit appears in tongues of fire reminding us that we need to speak the fire of truth to others. In Baptism we have the initiation of this process as our souls are stamped with an irreversible mark of Gods light.
In Baptism we are enrolled into the Passover of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Then at Confirmation (Tuesday) 14 candidates will have this process fulfilled in them which emulates Pentecost.
It is the sacrament of evangelisation allowing us to confidently go out and bear witness to the world to the truth of Christ. They will be given the power and grace of the Holy Spirit to allow this to happen.
In confirmation there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to facilitate the spreading and the defending of the faith by word and by action to confess the name of Christ and never be ashamed of his crucifixion and death.
As we continue of our spiritual journey in life may we continue to burn brightly for the Lord and disseminate his truth to those around us by what we say and by the very manner of our lives.