{"id":767,"date":"2019-06-04T15:41:48","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T15:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=767"},"modified":"2019-06-04T15:41:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T15:41:48","slug":"9-june-2019-c-pentecost-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=767","title":{"rendered":"9 June 2019 (C) Pentecost Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/strong>The Holy Spirit and\ndialogue with the modern age<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em> (Acts 2:1-11). They we re all filled with the Holy Spirit\nand began to speak. <\/em>This reading is about events that took place on the day\nof Pentecost, commonly known today as Whitsunday (that is White Sunday, from\nthe white clothes once worn by newly baptized on this day). Pentecost, of the\nActs of the Apostles written in Greek, is a Greek word, pentecoste<\/em>, meaning \u201cthe fiftieth\u201d, the fiftieth day after Easter.\nIt was one of the three Jewish festivals listed in the Bible to be celebrated\nwith special solemnity. The first was Passover (Easter) itself. It was\noriginally a harvest festival, but later, and very probably by New Testament\ntimes, it commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on the Mountain (Sinai,\nHoreb), just as Passover commemorated the exodus from Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The coming\nof the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the Church. like the ascension of Christ\nto the right hand of the Father, is a religious reality, a mystery, that may be\nexpressed as such or recounted as something experienced by the senses. In\nJohn\u2019s Gospel (John 20:22-23) Jesus is presented as having given the gift of\nthe Holy Spirit to the Apostles (the Eleven) on Easter day itself. Luke in\ntoday\u2019s reading from the Acts of the Apostles is recounting the visible\nbeginning of the Church and the Christian mission to the Jewish people and the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            There are\ntwo scenes in today\u2019s reading. The first speaks of the apostles, together with\nwomen and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers, in prayerful expectation\nfor the coming of the Holy Spirit, but in fear. The coming of the Spirit is\naccompanied by traditional signs of divine intervention, such as a mighty wind.\nThe tongues of fire represent the power of speech for the new mission. The\nSpirit would bring internal faith conviction of what Jesus stood for and his\nenthronement at God\u2019s right hand. Speaking in tongues (glossalalia) was a\nphenomenon of the early Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The second\nscene takes us outside the upper room, and represents the earliest preaching of\nthe Gospel and the foundation of the Church. Pious Jews from all over the Roman\nEmpire would have been on pilgrimage in Jerusalem\nfor the festival. Luke lists them anti-clockwise: from the East (present-day Iran and Iraq),\nthe north (present-day Turkey),\nthe west, Egypt and the\nnorthern African coast, as well as Rome.\nLuke may have been thinking of this Pentecost as the reversal of the Tower of Babel incident with the confusion of\ntongues and the scattering of the nations of the world. With the Pentecost\nevents the Church\u2019s mission to the world had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm\nPsalm 103\/104). Send forth your spirit, Lord, and renew the face of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Romans\n8:8-17). Everyone moved by the Spirit is\na child, a son or daughter of God.<\/em> In this letter to the Romans Paul often\ncontrasts \u201cflesh\u201d with \u201cspirit\u201d.  By the\nword \u201cflesh\u201d he means not the physical nature of human beings, but their whole\nnature in so far as they are weak and ruled by selfish interests. They may will\nto do what is right but cannot do it. Christ\u2019s religion not merely brings a new\nvision of life here and hereafter, but also through the gift of the Holy Spirit\ngives to power to live this new life. This weak, self-centred human existence,\ntoday\u2019s reading calls \u201cunspiritual\u201d, and incompatible with true Christian\nexistence. This new inner life lived out in keeping with God\u2018s calling is the\ngift of the Holy Spirit, who unites believers with God, makes them \u201cbelong\u201d to\nGod.  Weak human nature, prone to sin,\nwill always be there, but this weakness is overcome by the transforming power\nof the Holy Spirit. Paul returns to a theme already there in the presentation\nof the resurrection and ascension of Christ: the power of God present in these\ntwo mysteries are also present for each believer on earth, giving true\nChristian life here below and guaranteeing eternal life beyond. It is the\nSpirit that gives life, inner life of the soul lived in keeping with God\u2019s law.\nTrue Christian life may be hard to define; there can be devotion that is merely\nexternal. The true Christian life is mystical: being moved by the Spirit of\nGod, this is the criterion of being truly God\u2019s children. The Holy Spirit makes\nus aware that we can call on God our Father as Father, with the very word Jesus\nuse to address him: \u201cAbba\u201d, the Aramaic for \u201cFather\u201d, used by Jesus in Gethsemane\n(Mark 14:36; Galatians 4:6). The reading ends with the reminder that being\nchildren of God like Jesus cuts both ways: we are heirs of God with Christ, but\nwe must be prepared to share his sufferings so as to share his glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative Second Reading: Second Reading<\/em>\n(1 Corinthians 12:3-7. 12-13). In the one\nSpirit we were all baptized. <\/em>The New Testament texts treat in a variety of\nways of the essential role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual and\nof the Church as a whole. Among other designations, in John\u2019s Gospel the Holy\nSpirit is called the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Advocate who gives the\ninternal conviction of faith to believers in the face of opposition and\npersecution. In other writings the Spirit of Jesus, of the risen and exalted\nChrist himself, gives the various gifts and charisms of the Church and its\nmembers. In today\u2019s reading Paul lists some of these gifts. First is the gift\nof faith, that of professing that \u201cJesus is Lord\u201d. This brief early profession\nof faith confesses that Jesus is risen from the dead, seated at the right hand\nof the Father and gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Faith is the\nsupreme gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul then notes that in the Christian\ncommunity there are different roles to be fulfilled, tasks to be done, and the\nHoly Spirit gives a variety of gifts for this purpose. He is at pains to point\nout that these gifts are not just for personal fulfilment; they are intended\nfor the good of the entire community, of the Church. Here he compares the\nChristian community to a human body, in which the different members compliment\none another. This unity of the community is underlined by Christian baptism, in\nwhich all receive the same spirit, irrespective of any difference of social standing,\nslave as well as free citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel<\/em> (John\n14:15-16, 23-26).  The Holy Spirit will teach you everything. <\/em> This reading is part of Jesus\u2019 Farewell\nDiscourse to his disciples before his departure visibly from this world. There\nis to be a bond between Jesus, believers in him and in the Father. This bond of\nlove is to be shown be keeping Jesus\u2019 commandments. What these commandments are\nthe text does not specify, but elsewhere Jesus speaks of the commandment of\nbelieving in him and loving one another. It speaks of Jesus\u2019 love for his\ndisciples and for the Father and the Father\u2019s love for them. They are all\nunited in Jesus\u2019 word, and in the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,\nthat the Father will send at Jesus\u2019 request.  Great stress is laid on Jesus\u2019 \u201cword\u201d or\n\u201cwords\u201d. This means much more that our meaning of the term. Jesus\u2019 word implies\nunion (or its absence) with him. His word is the communication of his Father\u2019s\nplan of salvation. The Paraclete (in Greek parakletos<\/em>)\nwill see that Jesus\u2019 work continues. Many truths are conveyed in John\u2019s Gospel\nby this single word \u201cParaklete\u201d. The Paraclete (Holy Spirit) is an Advocate and\na witness; he also consoles the disciples. He has them remember Jesus\u2019 work and\nleads them into the whole truth. In a sense the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit,\nreplaces Jesus. He establishes continuity between believers and Jesus, not\nmerely by recalling Jesus\u2019 words and work, but by being Jesus\u2019 living presence.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative Gospel:<\/em><\/strong> Gospel <\/em>(John 20:19-23). As the Father sent me, so I am sending you;\nreceive the Holy Spirit. <\/em>The day in question in this reading is Easter\nSunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. John\u2019s gospel has just recounted\nbefore this passage how the risen Lord first appeared to Mary Magdalene. Jesus\nnow appears to his disciples, who are in a room with the doors locked, out of\nfear of their enemies. Coming through closed doors Jesus shows he has a risen\nbody, but the one in which he was crucified, with the wounds of the cross. This\naccount of the appearance is also in Luke\u2019s Gospel (Luke 24:36-49). In Luke\u2019s\naccount, Jesus draws attention to the wounds in his hands and his feet, to\nindicate the continuity between him in his now glorious state and his earthly\nlife, and death on the cross. In today\u2019s reading, Jesus showed his apostles his\nhands and his side, with the wound made by one of the soldiers. Jesus is about\nto send them the Holy Spirit. This gift of the Spirit had already been\nsignalled in John\u2019s Gospel at the death of Jesus (John19:28-30). At the moment of\ndeath, Jesus, knowing that everything had been completed, said: \u201cIt is\nfulfilled\u201d \u2013 that is the Father\u2019s plan of salvation had been brought to\ncompletion. The text goes on to say that bowing his head Jesus handed over the\nSpirit, the spirit promised to his Church at his own glorification at death, as\nearlier promised by himself (John7:39; 16:5-7). The gift of the Spirit would be\nsymbolized by the wound in Jesus\u2019 side, when blood and water came out (John\n19:34). The risen and glorified Jesus now appears to his disciples on the\nevening of that first Easter Sunday. The promised gift of the Holy Spirit is\nnow about to become a reality. This is a solemn moment, with Jesus\u2019\ncommissioning of the disciples as those chosen by him to continue his work on\nearth. There is to be continuity between his mission from the Father and their\nmission as sent by Jesus himself. Jesus breathed on them, and they are, as it\nwere, baptized in the Holy Spirit who will guarantee the continuation of Jesus\u2019\nmission. Jesus died so that sins might be forgiven. As he said in the words of\nthe Eucharistic consecration: his blood was shed for the remission of sins.\nNow, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, his disciples and the Church will\ncontinue his saving work in forgiving sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em> The Holy Spirit and\ndialogue with the modern age<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent decades in Catholic spirituality and liturgy there\nhas been renewed interest in the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life.\nThis is particularly in evidence in the new Eucharistic prayers. One of them\nrecalls that Christ by rising from the dead has destroyed death and restored\nlife. And that we may live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the\nHoly Spirit from the Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete\nhis work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace. Before the words of\nconsecration in the new Eucharistic prayers the celebrant prays to God the\nFather to send the Holy Spirit on the offerings so that they may become the\nBody and Blood of Christ, and after the consecration a similar prayer is\naddressed to the Father to look upon this sacrifice and by his Holy Spirit to\ngather all who partake of the Eucharist into the one Body of Christ, a living\nsacrifice of praise\u2014a prayer that the community becomes a living Eucharist..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Central to\nNew Testament and Christian teaching is the unity between God the Father, the\nSon, the Holy Spirit and creation. The death of Christ is evidence of God\u2019s\nlove for the world. The life of the Father is fully in the Son, and Jesus\u2019 wish\nis that this his own life and love, and that of the Father, be in believers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            For\ndialogue with our own age this implies that all that is good in the world is\nfrom God, loved by God. All the manifold gifts and traits of humanity are from\nGod, even in those who may not advert to this, or even believe in God \u2013 all the\nsocial concerns, the service of one\u2019s fellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Believers\nare carriers of this message in our own day or in any other. But together with\nthis very positive message, and the call of believers to be witnesses to\nit,  Jesus makes it very clear to his\ndisciples that they should be prepared to bear this message in hostile\nsurroundings and even in persecution. Part of the hostility they are told to be\nprepared for is indicated as attacks on Jesus\u2019 person and message. They will\nneed strong faith conviction, and this Jesus promises with come through the\nHoly Spirit, the Advocate for the truth of Jesus\u2019 message, and the Comforter in\ntheir trials. The two great commandments according to the First Letter of John\nare faith and love of the neighbour, faith in Jesus Christ as Son of God\nagainst all opposition. All this can be of significant help to us to day in our\ndialogue with questions of our age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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