Christ the Cornerstone

The Holy Spirit is God’s love in us

Last Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost, the day when God the Father and his only Son sent the Holy Spirit to kindle human hearts with the fire of Divine love.

Although we often relive this moment of grace—especially when we celebrate the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist and Holy Orders—there is something “once and for all” about Pentecost Sunday.

On this day, the gift of the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Church, and it changed the course of human history and the world as we know it. On this day, God’s love, which became Incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, was given to all humankind through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

There are many charisms, or gifts, associated with the Holy Spirit, but the one that seems most amazing and unlikely is the gift of unity. Nothing is more evident in our world, and in our relationships with one another in our homes and families, and in our neighborhoods and nations, than the fact of our disunity.

We are a divided people always at odds with each other and frequently unable to understand one another. The gift of the Holy Spirit brings unity and harmony in a divided, discordant world. It empowers us to speak to each other using the universal language of Divine love and to actually listen to what our sisters and brothers are saying to us.

In the first reading for Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2:1-11), we learned about the miracle worked by the Holy Spirit after God’s love was poured into the hearts of the Apostles:

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they ­gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native ­language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God. (Acts 2:5-11)

How is it possible that people from diverse cultures, who spoke different languages, could understand what was being said to them by uneducated fishermen from Galilee? Who or what was it that could open their hearts to the truth about Jesus of Nazareth—crucified, risen from the dead, and now ascended into heaven? Only God’s love can penetrate minds that are closed to the truth. Only Divine love can soften hearts hardened by the devil’s lies and the world’s coldness and cruelty.

On that day in the history of our salvation, the work of evangelization became possible. The fire of God’s love descended on Christ’s timid, inarticulate followers and made them bold, persuasive missionary disciples. They spoke the language of love, and they put their own lives on the line as Spirit-filled evangelizers and martyrs who courageously witnessed to their faith.

The Gospel for Pentecost Sunday makes it clear that it was the Risen Jesus, in union with his Heavenly Father, who gave his fearful disciples this gift:

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (Jn 20:19-23)

The peace that Jesus gives is by no means passive or impotent. His peace blazes like a raging fire. It makes all who receive it people of courage, confidence and conviction. It allows us to say and do things that would be impossible for us on our own power.

This Sunday, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. As we prepare to give thanks and praise for the mystery of God’s three-fold unity, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with the fire of God’s love.

May we be faithful missionary disciples who carry the message of Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection to the ends of the Earth. †