Gospel:
John 20:19-23
It's 50 days since Resurrection (Easter Sunday ie). Today, the universal Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost, aka Pentecost Sunday. With the feast of Solemnity, as it is also known as, we also come to an end of Easter Season. In John 16:12-14 , The Lord had promised his disciples the gift of Holy Spirit, who will come to enlighten them (and also us) about things to come and about the mysteries of salvation which the Lord taught them during his earthly ministry. And sure enough, a week after (please note that last week we celebrated feast of Ascension) the Lord ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, who had gathered together in prayer in the upper room. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, the triune God-head that Christians worship, the first two being, God, The Father and God, The Son, Jesus Christ. Perhaps an elaborate description of Trinity is required here and will follow soon. (As little as I myself have, out of my limited knowledge, understood and as much as I can explain)
Coming back to today's feast. It's one of the principal feast of our Church and is also understood to be the birthday of the universal Church as from this day on, the apostles filled with the Holy Spirit were able to lanuch out to the world and proclaim salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. Although, certain theologians have come about with their points as to why it should not be called the birthday of Church. I do not wish to get into the nitty-gritty of it and would rather wish all of us who are a part mother Church, a happy feast.
Let's now get into the beauty of today's liturgy. Today's Gospel was taken from John 20:19-23. It's taken from an incident immediately post Jesus' Resurrection. As the apostles are locked inside their room, fear having gripped them, for they thought that the Romans/Jews will be after them (now that the Lord was crucified & dead) the Lord enters their room, that is locked from inside, and stands before them. As a proof of His Resurrection, He shows them the marks of nails on His palms and says something which was much needed in that locked room, "Peace be with you." The first sign of anyone claiming to be filled with or being led by the Holy Spirit is that peace is with/in him. Then He said to them "Receive the Holy Spirit." The process of receiving the Holy Spirit, according to priest who gave the homily today, has two steps. The 1st step happened in the above Gospel passage, where the Lord asked to receive the Holy Spirit and they received it also. The 2nd step happens in first reading of the day which is taken from Acts 2:1-11 . In this reading, we see how the apostles filled with the spirit began to manifest the gifts of the Spirit and were able to speak in tongues other than the language they had otherwise learnt.
Let's now get into the beauty of today's liturgy. Today's Gospel was taken from John 20:19-23. It's taken from an incident immediately post Jesus' Resurrection. As the apostles are locked inside their room, fear having gripped them, for they thought that the Romans/Jews will be after them (now that the Lord was crucified & dead) the Lord enters their room, that is locked from inside, and stands before them. As a proof of His Resurrection, He shows them the marks of nails on His palms and says something which was much needed in that locked room, "Peace be with you." The first sign of anyone claiming to be filled with or being led by the Holy Spirit is that peace is with/in him. Then He said to them "Receive the Holy Spirit." The process of receiving the Holy Spirit, according to priest who gave the homily today, has two steps. The 1st step happened in the above Gospel passage, where the Lord asked to receive the Holy Spirit and they received it also. The 2nd step happens in first reading of the day which is taken from Acts 2:1-11 . In this reading, we see how the apostles filled with the spirit began to manifest the gifts of the Spirit and were able to speak in tongues other than the language they had otherwise learnt.
The same principle applies to any christian. First step takes place during baptism, a sacrament through which we receive Holy Spirit and partake in the death & resurrection of the Lord. Baptism ensures that the baptised is a part of Christ's church and His Spirit indwells in him/her even though there may not be any physical manifestation of His presence. And the second step, that of use of the gifts of the Spirit and the resultant manifestation takes place at a time when we are ready for the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. The timing of this may differ from person to person according how much he yearns for the gifts of the Spirit and how much he seeks to use these gifts for the greater glory of God.
The last verse of today's Gospel sheds light on sacrament of penance, I feel led to write about it & shall do so in the coming week. Starting tomorrow, we restart (from where we left before lenten season) following the calender for Ordinary time in our daily mass and also for Divine Office readings.
