Homily for 5 June 2022 by Fr. Joe Tedesco
Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost is a great feast of the Church and a truth we celebrate today so we can live out of this spirit life every day. Spirit Life promised to us by the Risen Christ is now the link to Him and to our full life in God. We need a new Pentecost for the Church and for the World.
Our whole response to life and all the challenges we can face, have a way to be resolved in the Spirit. God is accompanying us in our life journey. With all of God’s gifts to shape this new life we have in the Risen Christ. Oh, how much we need the spirit to energize us all.
In today’s world, with one tragic experience after another, we can stop and reflect on how God is inviting us to respond in a unique way. Pentecost is a new life, a new reality for us. The very life of God within. Life in the Spirit of God. We are his own, God chose us and sent Jesus to us.
Can we understand the power of God’s choice?
So, from the beginning, as soon as the reconciliation of Christ was completed, we are given the Holy Spirit. The very way God can be with us. The very life of God restored in us, experienced through the gifts of the Spirit. This great new life is expressed by the virtues of the Spirit, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, patience, kindness, gentleness, these grow out of living the gifts of the Spirit.
We know what that means. Living with wisdom, understanding, fortitude, piety, knowledge, council and fear of the Lord. All the day-to-day discernments we make to be of God and act out of love. Pentecost is the initiation of the Church into Spirit life. The Spirit is the advocate that supports us, on our faith journey. We receive the Spirit at Baptism and confirmation. But we need to energize this great gift by our prayer and faithfulness to God’s life and love. Living in peace, living with love and compassion for all. And being sent out to share this peace and love in the world. That’s how it works.
It’s not magic ; but the willingness to be kind, to be loving, to accept folks and honor them. To
To be faithful to all Christ has invited us to be. Forgiving, merciful, patient and generous.
We can live with the very life of God. That’s the gift we have been given. It takes pursuing these, touching the depth of these gifts within, that changes us. Gives us the way forward. Praying to be in touch with the grace of the gifts and living them. That is the issue today. We are invited to enter anew. The practical reality that is our life of faith.
Can we strengthen these Spirit gifts within? Make them part of our regular life, always being in touch with their power. This is living the life of the Spirit.
Think of how your life can change. The whole reality of the Paschal Mystery is here. Christ’s passion, death and resurrection brought us unity with God. We are all reconciled. We are now able to be walk with God in the Garden! Spirit life – gets us there.
These are the qualities that our world needs today, that we need today. When we live in God, we find these gifts. We are full of the faith that allows us to accept Jesus as Lord, as Corinthians tells us.
So, we have God’s presence, power and peace. It is these gifts that renews the face of the earth. God’s life within celebrated, has a deep reality that strengthens, consoles and energizes us. Pray for the renewed outpouring of the spirit in your heart. Pray for that peace which is beyond understanding – because only God can give us this peace. And that is God’s desire for each of us.
Pray for God’s presence within – to know God is with you. That changes everything. That’s what living in God’s love means.
Pray for the Power to live always in God’s Spirit. Let today be an awakening of Spirit life within.
