ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Pentecost - High Mass

Fr Ivan Aquilina

How many Pentecosts do you remember in your life? Every year the Church promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to us, but in all honesty, how many of us can say that we felt as new beings after celebrating Pentecost? On this day the Church promises every one of us that if we open our hearts we too shall receive the Holy Spirit that Spirit who above all enables us to call God as “Abba”, Father. The Spirit that makes us Church, children of God, a process known in theology as Divine Filiation, it is the greatest gift one can ever receive.

Let’s start from the beginning. The disciples were gathered in prayer with Mary the Mother of God and around nine o’clock the Holy Spirit descends and turns their fear into courage and they go out and start preaching and witnessing. Their preaching is new, unheard of. Many of the listeners open up to the outpouring of the Spirit which continues in the preaching of the disciples. Others, well others are not ready for change and do not like to be challenged so they can not see the work of the Holy Spirit. They look at the witnesses and say that they are all drunk. The Church is misunderstood from the word go.
All this happened to those disciples living in a far away country a long time ago. We are celebrating that event today as a historical moment and also as a Festival. We look with admiration at those who received and immediately started sharing the Holy Spirit. But what’s in it for us?

As with all passages from Scriptures we have to see this in perspective. To apply for us this passage we need to take in consideration what the Church understood and how the Church interacted with this text during the period “then and now”: this is Tradition. Tradition is the channel through which the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate today becomes not a past event but a Festival: an outpouring which still goes on and that will continue till the end of time. We are one chapter of the Sacred Tradition which today we celebrate the beginning of. What can we learn?

We learn that the Holy Spirit gives us confidence in God as Father as the Holy Spirit makes of us God’s children. Being children of God is the real meaning of being a Christian, now in this there are three things. If we are children we need to 1) obey. We need to be shaped by Word and Sacraments. This sacrifice of obedience brings us to 2) freedom, freedom from self-love and sin, this freedom brings 3) joy as we are no longer prisoners of our selfishness. This joy is shared if we allow the loving heart of Jesus to live in our hearts. Can you see why being children of God is the best gift ever? Living like children of God we co-operate with the Holy Spirit in building the Church.

The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to history through the Church. The Holy Spirit extends the power of the Resurrection through those who are baptised therefore as Lancelot Andrews teaches: “The Holy Spirit makes the Church”. This means that the community of believers (us) and all the Church institutions exist to serve the Holy Spirit in faithful and joyful obedience. Maybe this coming week we want to see if we are entrusting ourselves in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are here, in us that are here gathered. He is here to transform bread and wine in the Body and Blood of Christ. He is here to forgive the sins of those who are penitent. He is here to turn mortals into children of God. He is here make our words of hope and faith and love fruitful. He is here to change the words we use into worship acceptable and pleasing to God.

This Spirit is the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus “I am with you always till the end of time.” In us Tradition lives on, the Spirit is still outpoured.

So today let us not only rejoice at what happened but give thanks for what is happening, let us rejoice in the Spirit that makes us Church: living in fellowship with God and each other.

The last word goes to Richard William Church, a nineteenth century Dean of St. Paul’s; as he was preaching on this day many years ago he said: “The Holy Spirit is gift that brings truth and holiness. The Holy Spirit makes us able to know, hear and love God. This day is the new birth of humanity: the day when a new divine power came in our souls to lift us up, changing us, filling us with God, enabling us to bring others to share in the utmost good: the sharing of Divine Life.” If we open up to the Holy Spirit and in the sacrifice of obedience allow Him to reform and reshape us than in all liberty and joy we shall be made whole and we shall be made new. Veni Sancte Spiritus. Amen.