Homily for Pentecost May 28 2023 by Fr. Joe Tedesco

Pentecost is the final initiation into the full life with God in Christ. We now have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We are a new creation, St. John understood the connection with Genesis, when Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. It is the very breath of God that has created us. We are now empowered to live fully on earth the life of God as disciples of Jesus. Gifted with the Holy Spirit to transform the world – to make all things one in Christ.

When we hear Luke’s account of Pentecost in Acts he surely had the story of Babel in mind. As a response to that human pride, God divided human speech into different languages and scattered humanity across the earth. According to Luke, when the Spirit descended at Pentecost, the linguistic divisions were healed.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Unity. Spirit Life can take us from alienation to community. The work of the Spirit is to bridge the divisions of our world and to allow every nation to contribute to the good of all. The problems of our world are many and deep. We know them well. The Spirit intends to eliminate these evils and calls upon all peoples to work together. If such cooperation is to succeed, it must begin with a common vision of what is just and good. This is why Luke presents all those at Pentecost as understanding the same Gospel in their own language.

So that we can move from a “self-centered” attitude that holds on to the good focused on MY nation, My people, My family, me. Now through Christ, the Spirit is calling and equipping all of us to collaborate in the common good of building the kingdom of God. This is the overarching goal of the Church and indeed the call of Christ to each of us to share his life and Good News with everyone. We do so as we seek to embrace unity, to listen with compassion to the poor, the sorrowing and suffering and to build a community all inspired by the Spirit. For each of us, whatever we do in faith, living out the Gospel as we can in our situation in life is a big deal. Because we proclaim Christ to the world. That’s the new evangelization – dependent on us.

Jesus says to his disciples two times in the Gospel today, “Peace be with you.” It is in peace we receive the Holy Spirit. It is in peace that we live the gifts of the spirit and share them with others. The Spirit life is God’s very life in us, we live by his power. But it requires peace, Jesus’ peace. A shalom, a deep contentment, purposefulness. A clarity that pushes us forward with a confidence and new hope.

The clarity is Jesus. Because Jesus is with us, with all his power and presence. We now speak his language. The language of love, of mercy, of forgiveness. That’s the language of the Holy Spirit. When we live Jesus, we have his peace. When we know Jesus is with us, we have his peace and can live in his Spirit.

We received this Spirit in Baptism. At Confirmation, the Spirit life within deepened as we committed ourselves to live with the gifts of the Spirit. We are called and now equipped with faith and spirit gifts and language to change the world. So we go with Jesus’ peace.
Our Commitment to Spirit life and the gifts of the Spirit we have received needs our ongoing development by using the gifts, deepening our prayer, relying on the Spirit, living in community, all these elements shape our Spirit life in Christ.

In today’s world, how can we go forward without these spirit gifts: Think about it, the challenges we face in our own lives and in the world need wisdom, need understanding, need council, fortitude, need knowledge and pity – wow a real connection in the heart to God, and that awesomeness of God with us. And the enlightenment of the other gifts of community and living out your own particular gifts and talents in the Spirit. Always seeking to live in God’s presence.

These equip us to face the reality of our complex society that needs us so badly, needs people of faith and courage to stand up for justice and right. Our spirit life marks us for this mission. Marked as members of the very body of Christ – indeed as Christ in the world, and as Jesus himself told his disciples, “You will do greater things then these.” Yes with Spirit gifts and our faith, that’s possible.

Like the disciples, we too are sent, just as Jesus was sent to bring God’s love to the world. We know John 3:16: God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son. Jesus brought us God’s love.

My brothers and sisters – the world needs us, the world is waiting for us to bring God’s love now. If not us – if not you and me – who?