A Reflection by Mark Lajoie

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, my brothers?’

Peter [said] to them, ‘Repent and be baptized,^* every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

– Acts 2:37-38

“What are we to do?”, the crowd at Pentecost asked. How can we find peace, and be saved? We are all in this most crucial predicament.

In today’s Gospel, the Risen Christ comes through the locked doors on Easter night, and appears, in order to give to His Apostles the great Gift that solves this dilemma for us all:
“Peace be with you”, He said…
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Why is this the Gospel for Pentecost? This took place 50 days before the Birth of the Church in the Upper Room. Why? Because Easter night is the moment the King gave the Apostles the power to do what they did as His official representatives, as promised, on that glorious day of Pentecost fifty days later. They received the Gift so we all can receive the Gift. Because they are made Bishops and Shepherds in persona Christi, we sheep can be fed and led in the power of grace.
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”

All of creation, all of salvation history had been leading up to that Day which Joel and The Prophets foresaw, when all could receive God’s Spirit. As St. Paul remarked, the Apostles are appointed as “ministers of Reconciliation”. Forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace came on Pentecost through the Baptism of 3000, and the first “breaking of the Bread”. The Lord’s Spirit, the “Father of the Poor”, as today’s Sequence calls Him, is ‘poured out’ on their neediness through the teaching of Peter and the Sacraments of the Apostles.

The first reading tells us the exquisite timing; because it was an important Jewish feast, “there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven”. This new and perfectly fulfilled ‘Davidic Kingdom’ was meant to bring perfect unity from total diversity, to bring that long-desired peace and holiness through the Apostles. All those thousands Peter and the Apostles baptized, all those to whom they gave the Sweet Bread of Life that day, went back to every part of the world with the Good News. From Day One, the Church is one, holy, Catholic (universal) and Apostolic, first given to these Jews of all places, and then, to all Gentiles and to the ends of the earth.

The message from this day is clear: You can find out what to do! You can find holiness and be saved, wherever you are from or whoever you are! What must we do? Repent and change our hearts! Be baptized! Listen to the sure teaching passed down by Peter and the Apostles and recognize Christ in the breaking of the Bread as the two disciples did in Emmaus! RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT in the Sacraments instituted by the King!

And, so, it has come to us the baptized today through the Church. I can turn to Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; I can go to Mass, I can pray and intercede with power, filled with grace, just like that Mother of the Cenacle with whom I am now praying every day. It is a great Gift, this Holy Spirit, in my daily life, in my heart of hearts.

But with a great Gift? comes great responsibility! In one of the optional readings for today, Galatians teaches,
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.”
In the Gospel for the Vigil for today, Jesus promises:
"’Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.
As Scripture says:
‘Rivers of Living Water will flow from within him who believes in me.’
He said this in reference to the Spirit
that those who came to believe in him were to receive.”

Every one of us can “belong to Christ Jesus”, can be that one who believes, so that he can receive THE Gift! the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which flows for us poor sinners; it flows for those who are ready to give Him their entire hearts and lives! It is a worthy and gracious exchange: we give him what little we have, and He gives us Himself; He gives us Everything. Let us together receive this Gift in Communion and Charity.

AMETUR COR JESU!

Loved be the Sacred Heart of Jesus…Who gave us this Greatest Gift!

PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into Heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul the work of Your grace and Your Love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the Light of Your Divine Truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence toward God and may dread in any way to displease You. Mark me, dear Lord with the sign of Your true disciples, and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost Playlist by LW on Spotify