Pentecost
“Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire”
The Church calendar follows Luke’s chronology in celebrating Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. According to Luke, Jesus appeared to his disciples a number of times over a period of forty days following his Resurrection. Then, on Ascension Day, he returned to his Father, promising to send the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide them. Ten days later, on the Jewish Festival of Pentecost, the disciples were gathered together in an upper room and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Luke gives us the most vivid picture of this event. The disciples, who had twice experienced the “loss” of Jesus – first at his death and then at his Ascension – have the ecstatic experience of being filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is rushing wind, fire descends, and the disciples’ words are intelligible to people who speak many different languages.
The day in the Jewish calendar on which all this happened was the first harvest festival of the year, The Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost, Greek for fifty, referring to the fact that it occurred fifty days after Passover). But on this occasion it is not the simply the harvest of food that is celebrated but also the harvest of souls who are touched by the Spirit.
The Day of Pentecost is unlike other manifestations of God’s presence described by Luke. Events like the Transfiguration (when Jesus’ appearance is transformed) are witnessed by an “inner circle” of disciples but the Pentecostal tongues of fire touch each disciple. More than that, the whole spectrum of people from the Jewish Diaspora (the Jews who settled beyond Palestine but returned for festivals) can hear the disciples in their own language. Every life present is touched by the Holy Spirit, although some reject what is offered (saying that the disciples were drunk) just as others had rejected Jesus.
The Gospel reading from John does not have Luke’s chronology. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes on Easter evening not fifty days later. However, John, like Luke, shows that the gift of the Holy Spirit is essential to the life of the Church.
John attributes these qualities to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is called parakletos, which can be translated as Advocate or Counsellor. The Spirit as Counsellor will sustain the disciples, and us, once Jesus is no longer physically present. The Spirit is “The Spirit of truth”, which protects the Church from wandering from the path that God intends for it. The Holy Spirit is also fundamentally a gift. It will go where it wants: we cannot control it. On the other hand, Jesus promises his disciples that they will receive it.
Jesus also promises his disciples that the Spirit will bring them “peace”: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” This peace is not the peace “the world gives”, the static vision of peace, for instance, offered by the advertisers who promise idyllic holidays on unspoilt sunny beaches. The peace that the Holy Spirit brings is dynamic. It enables individuals to change and be more at ease with themselves and exist in more harmonious and constructive relationships with each other. Let us pray for this peace: “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire”.