Deacon Tom Writes 19th May 2023
This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost – the ‘birthday of the Church’. I say ‘celebrate’ and yet there is a sense, I believe, that we fail to recognise the enormity and importance of Pentecost.
As we know and as our First Reading this weekend reminds us, Pentecost is when the Apostles received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Upon receiving this gift, promised by Jesus before his Ascension into heaven, the Apostles were empowered to go out to all who were in Jerusalem at that time and proclaim the Good News. At one moment in time the Apostles, who previously were ‘laying low’ for fear of the Jews, were given the gift of speech and the courage to witness all they had learnt from Jesus.
The Holy Spirit itself is often referred to as ‘the forgotten God’ and yet week after week in our reciting of the Creed at Mass we refer to the Spirit as ‘the Giver of Life’.
The Sprit is our Advocate, the one who gives us the words to speak and the courage to witness to others. As St Paul says in his letter to the Romans: ‘The Sprit comes to the aid of our weakness; when we do not know what prayer to offer, to pray as we ought, the Spirit himself intercedes for us, with groans beyond all utterance; and God, who can read our hearts knows well what the Spirit’s intent is’. (Ch. 8 vv 26-27). Let us therefore call on the Holy Spirit to inspire us and embolden us to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, the Messiah.
