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Volume II |
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Pentecost Vigil & Sunday 5/19/2024 - Year B
1. -- Lanie LeBlanc OP - 6th Sunday2. -- Dennis Keller - 7th Sunday 3. -- John Boll, OP 4. --(Your reflection can be here!)
In this Pentecost Sunday's Gospel according to John 20: 19-23, Jesus says to those gathered, "Peace be with you ". He then breathes the Holy Spirit into them and tells them to go forth. What did that mean to them and now to us, Jesus's modern day disciples? Perhaps a good place to start is what Peace did and didn't does/doesn't mean. Having the Holy Spirit within is not a good luck charm or a magic wand. Trials and tribulations do not stop. Life remains life with both blessings and challenges. Life is NOT the same, however, as we know from the work the disciples did and how they lived and died. The disciples cooperated with the Spirit. They remained hopeful in Jesus's promises even though they faced horrific situations at times. Life is the spirit does mean freedom, guidance, and the confidence to live as Jesus did. Such a life combines sorrows, challenges, and disappointments with hope. It enables true disciples to weather the storms of life by acknowledging the realities present but always abiding in the Peace of Christ. For those living in the Holy Spirit, Jesus is indeed Lord and the Master of all things. Come, Holy Spirit, and fill us with Peace, not just happiness but Christ's Peace. Let us know through the gifts you bestow that Jesus’s promises are true so that we can live in that Peace and share it with others as the first disciples did. In that way will we, too, proclaim the mighty deeds of God in the various ways as the Spirit guides us. Blessings, Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP Southern Dominican Laity lanie@leblanc.one ****************************************************** 2. ****************************************************** Pentecost Sunday May 19, 2024 Vigil of Pentecost May 18, 2024 Recommending reading the readings listed as possibilities – great preparation for the celebration of Pentecost.
Pentecost Sunday Mass During the Day May 19, 2024 Act of Apostles 2:1-11; Responsorial Psalm 104; 1st Corinthians 12:3-7 & 12-13
Of the readings for the Vigil of Pentecost -all of which are impressive – I am most inspired by the one from Ezekiel. I am reminded of the spiritual song, “Dem Dry Bones.” In a vision the prophet sees a valley littered with disjointed, sun bleached, dried human bones strewn helter-skelter. In the course of the vision, the bones rejoin, forming a skeletal human. Then sinews and muscles and flesh and skin cover them. But they remain lifeless. A strong wind, a breath of God, comes from the four points of the compass and where there was death now there is life. The four points of compass is meant to signify the gatherings of the people of Israel scattered to the four winds and lost their tradition and origins. The life that ensued was a revitalization of the nation and its faith. By the visitation of the Breath of God, the spirit – life – returns to Israel and the vision reveals a return to faith and energy of the community of twelve tribes.
I think of how life can weigh heavy on our spirits when pain, suffering, failures occur and when others look at us and relate to us with hatred and denial of our dignity and worth. Our very bodies are shattered when life’s troubles strike, unless we find an energy that is peace within. Jesus comes into broken and burdened hearts, held captive by fear, regret, guilt, and rejection. He whispers, “Peace be with you.” And then he breathes a gentle whisper. And we are reminded of God’s presence with Moses on Mount Sinai. We hear that whisper again coming in God’s presence with Elijah so shaken by his troubles with Jezebel. “Peace be with you: receive the Holy Spirit.” A Pentecost event recures for each of us when we willingly search and listen for the Spirit’s presence.
While I love the Ezekiel story, I am also taken by the reading from the Prophet Joel. “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.“ Being one of the old guys, I understand how difficult it is to dream dreams when the future appears short and threatening. Joel includes everyone living in hope, in excitement for the present and the possibilities for undefined futures. Joel is talking about the outpouring of God’s Spirit, that giver of fortitude, knowledge, wisdom, counsel, piety, fear of the Lord, and understanding.
Pentecost for the Hebrews is the Feast of Weeks. It was an agricultural feast of the first fruits of plantings and the birthing of lambs. This was a sign of new beginnings for field and flock. It brought new hope for flourishing. As the Hebrews became less agricultural the feast became a celebration of Moses’ reception of commandments on Sinai. We think of the commandments as restrictions on freedom. The time of Sinai was an age of violence and denial of dignity and worth of common people. That denial affected especially women and children, slaves and aliens seeking asylum or opportunity for a better life. Considering the violence and disregard for persons without resources, without power, without education, without means for income and safety, the commandments became guides to raise up the marginalized. Our United States’ experience is based on the rule of law. Our civil law means to guarantee safety, peace, and dignity and worth for every person. And it does if it is applied with equity. In the reading from Exodus God promises to be God for the Hebrew tribes. The Tribes responded, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” That was the covenant following the tribes’ liberation from Pharaoh. Ever after the Hebrew Scriptures are stories of liberation. Each liberation was recognized as an improvement for the people. There is an increasing understanding in the nation of God’s relationship. That increased till the time was fulfilled and the Son of God was born of a woman. Jesus became the teacher and certifier of a new covenant. The old covenant was a matter of morality, of choices for the good, the common good. The new covenant moves the relationship to a higher level. The improvement is love. This love requirement is modeled and sealed with the blood shed on Calvary's cross. The liberator is Jesus who demonstrates the unconditional love the Father has for all creation. Who can imitate that love without help? Jesus’ death and resurrection contradict the way of the world – the what-is-in-it-for-me approach to relationship. The standard of Jesus creates the Way, the Truth, and the Life Christians make their own. Getting our spirits to complete living according to this standard isn’t easy. The demands imposed by loving others as ourselves and God above all take a lot of practice. Perhaps that’s why we have time for our lives.
The Jewish celebration of the Feast of Weeks celebrates a new beginning in agriculture and in relationships guided by Mosaic Law. Jesus’s sending the Spirit begins a new way of living. Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach to all nations to invite them to this new way. The beginning of this commissioning has Jesus extending his peace to them. He breathes on them in an imitation of Ezekiel and the four winds. But this breathing is the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He prays over them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them. Whose sins you retain are retained.” This is the authority and power of liberation given to the disciples and their successors. We are freed from the clutches of sin.
This feast of Pentecost is a feast worth celebrating. Many wear red on this day to remember the flames that parted over the heads in the upper room. The sound filled the house like that of a great wind. The wind is a force that is not visible yet comes from God knows where. It has an effect. We pray that it comes to us this feast day in our hearts and brings us to a new beginning. The sequence proclaimed before the gospel this Sunday tells its story. Our prayer, our mantra, can become a prayer that is proclaimed in the gospel acclamation: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your Faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love...”
Dennis Keller Dennis@PreacherExchange.com
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“As a body is one though it has many parts,
“To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” -- Fr. John Boll, OP
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