For this week’s homily please watch the video below.

Today’s the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus. If you notice our readings today describe two different times the Spirit comes. Our first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, describes the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost, a Jewish feast 50 days after the Passover, when great numbers of pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all parts of the world to celebrate the feast. They receive the Holy Spirit and become messengers of the Spirit to the world they came from.

 Our gospel describes Holy Spirit coming, not at Pentecost, but Easter Sunday when Jesus’ disciples were locked in the upper room in Jerusalem in fear.

 Jesus, risen from the dead, comes to them and breathes on them: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” The Spirit brings them forgiveness and peace. They can leave that room and go out into the world they’re fearful of. The Spirit is with them. 

Where are we today if we could see the Spirit coming to us? I think a lot of us today are like those disciples in the upper room–  afraid  of the world we live in. We may think our world is unmanageable. We’re closing our doors and shutting the windows. We’re afraid. In our country that fear is making us distance ourselves from the rest of the world. 

Today, the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, whom  Jesus promised, not only to his disciples but to us and to the whole world. The Spirit comes not just to help us as individuals,  the Spirit’s sent to our world. “Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face the earth.”

The way we know the Holy Spirit is different than the way we know Jesus.  Jesus is God come to us in human flesh; he’s like us. He’s born a child, lives as a human being, he reacts to events and people around him, he speaks in human words, he suffers and dies and rises. However distant his time from ours is, we see and hear him human like ourselves. 

But it’s more difficult to describe the Holy Spirit.  The scriptures use symbolic ways to describe the Third Person of the Trinity. Our gospel today describes the Spirit as the breath of Jesus Christ. Jesus breathed on his disciples and gave them the Spirit. He promises that the Holy Spirit will remain with us to “complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace.”

Our first reading todays says the Spirit is a driving wind, tongues of fire empowering those to whom he comes to speak with wisdom, with new words, and to reach out to the whole world and act bravely, not fearfully.

The Holy Spirit is described in other ways in the New Testament and in our prayers. The Spirit’s a dove who rests on Jesus when he’s baptized in the Jordan by John. I find myself  particular attracted that this image of the Holy Spirit.

There’s a bird feeder outside where I live that’s attracts a lot of house sparrows, but doves are regular visitors too. I notice when a cat comes or a hawk flies over, the sparrows scatter immediately; the doves are the last to go and first back at the feeder. Now, are they simple?  You could say also they’re fearless. They’re not afraid of their enemies.

Think about the story of Noah in the ark. Noah wonders if the flood waters are gone, so what does he do ? He sends out a dove, who returns with a twig from an olive plant. There’s life there, you can get out of the ark. The dove is not afraid of floodwaters and dangerous places. 

The dove, the Holy Spirit, leads Jesus into the desert, the realm of Satan, after his baptism. The Spirit is not afraid of chaos or evil, but recreates the world.  The Holy Spirit is with us today. We don’t have to be afraid..

St. Cyril of Jerusalem has a beautiful description of the Holy Spirit in one of his sermons.How describe the Holy Spirit? He uses two things we know well: water and light.

 “The water I shall give will become a fountain of living water, welling up into eternal life. This is a new kind of water, a living, leaping water, welling up for those who are worthy.

But why did Christ call the Spirit water? Because all things depend on water; plants and animals originate in water. Water comes down from heaven as rain, and always the same, it produces many different effects, one in the palm tree, another in the vine, and so on through all of creation. It does not come down, now as one thing, now as another, but  remaining essentially the same, it adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it.

In the same way the Holy Spirit, whose nature is always the same, simple and indivisible, gives grace to each one as he wills. Like a dry tree whose roots search for water, we search for the water of the Spirit.  Although the Spirit never changes, its effects are many and marvellous.

The Spirit makes one teach and another a listener. He gives one the power to cast our devils and another the patience to bear with evil. The Spirit strengthens one’s self-control, shows another how to help the poor. The Spirit’s action is different in different people, but the Spirit is always the same. The Spirit reveals his presence in a particular way for the common good.

 The Spirit comes gently, known by his fragrance, not a burden, but light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge mark his approach. With the tenderness of a true friend, the Spirit comes, a protector who saves, heals, teaches, counsels, strengthens, and consoles. The Spirit comes first to enlighten the mind of one who receives him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.”