The Power of the Spirit

The feast of Pentecost Sunday, a pivotal moment in the grand drama of our redemption, marks the culmination of a journey that began with the Incarnation. This journey, initiated by the Word becoming flesh, reaches its zenith as He, our life, fulfills His promise to send the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, to be with us always. The drama unfolds as the eternal Son, in unity with the Father, assumes our humanity, and our humanity, in turn, is elevated through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

What we commemorate on this Pentecost Sunday is a distinct event not to be confused with Christmas Day. While they share some similarities, they are unique in their own right and hold separate places in our religious calendar.

Let us recall the transformative event of Christmas Day when God chose to become human. The Word took on flesh and dwelled among us in a profound act of love. This act, the Incarnation, forever altered the course of our world, bringing glory to God and peace to His people.

The fusion of the divine and human in the infant Jesus signifies a profound shift in the divine-human relationship. It is a testament to God’s unwavering commitment to humanity, adopting our cause as His own. This is the essence of Christmas Day, the essence of the Incarnation. It is a perpetual bond between God and humanity, a bond that is physical and intimate.

Today’s observance of Pentecost continues the divine-human union, albeit in a different form and perspective. Pentecost is the human and divine reuniting, a reenactment of the first union between heaven and earth. However, it is a version told from our human perspective. On Pentecost, the human essence transcends into the spiritual realm. The human is now bestowed with the Spirit, becoming a vessel of the Divine Spirit.

Jesus breathed on them and told his disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The Acts of the Apostles assure us that they did: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” They began to speak in different tongues, and the Spirit empowered them to proclaim the truths about God. This reassures us of the eternal presence of the Holy Spirit, always ready to guide and inspire us.  

We have received the Holy Spirit through the sacraments and the divine power to change the world substantially. Once we have become Temples of the Holy Spirit through baptism, we enter into an intimate relationship with God whereby we coexist with the divine. Through our sinfulness driving the Spirit from our lives, the Spirit urges us to reconcile through the sacrament of confession.  When we receive the Eucharist, our relationship with God is strengthened through Jesus Christ. When our bodies begin to fail, we ask the Spirit through anointing to help our spirit stay faithful to our union with Christ.    

When we receive the Holy Spirit, the cause of God made evident in Jesus’s mission becomes our own.

The cares of God, expressed so eloquently in Jesus’s life, become our cares. The proclamation of the Kingdom, through Jesus, becomes our own to continue.

Pentecost does mean something in our everyday lives. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” The Spirit allows us to speak a different language, not of a foreign tongue or nation, but one that finds its source and home in God.

This is the language of the driving—the powerful—wind from heaven that the first disciples experienced. The presence of the Holy Spirit within us when we are in a state of grace gives us the courage to speak the truth. Evidence of the power of the Spirit comes through the words of a Super Bowl-winning member of the Kansas City Chiefs.  

Recently, the language of the Holy Spirit was exemplified through Harrison Butker’s commencement speech.  A professional football player told recent graduates the truths about God and Catholicism, which are rarely spoken by a public figure, let alone the clergy.  He probably knew his comments about God’s truths would be met with crushing criticism, but that did not deter him from speaking out. Even though the backlash was great, the world heard the message of God. So powerful is the Holy Spirit in one who is united with him that even with resistance to the message, the Word of God is proclaimed.  

The obvious gift of the Holy Spirit in this courageous man should encourage us to use the gifts we have received to speak the language of love and truth. Today, the gifts we have received are meant to be used by those we meet to help bring about the Kingdom.