One Living Body in Christ:
Pentecost Sunday 2026
May 24, 2026
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Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23
The arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost shows us God’s continued interest in our world. God remains an active part of our lives and promises to evolve with us as we head to more complexity. Pentecost reminds us that we live in a time in which our church and our world are unfinished, and we are invited to become fully and actively involved in God’s grand project.
God’s project is much more than saving our souls and keeping us from falling into sin and hell. That is what we learned in our religious education of our youth. Pentecost is about consciously creating a positive difference in the world that has become increasingly complex. This is a divine project that respects the innate longing of all creation, not just humans, to reach the fulfillment God always held out for us. Today, people of faith are integrating our beliefs into a rapidly changing and complex world.
Pentecost is the moment when many different people become one living body through the Spirit. This Spirit-event emphasizes that all people are interdependent parts of a greater whole, working side by side in service to God. It focuses on the universality of God’s evolutionary plan. We, therefore, become concerned for issues like planetary ecology, global warming, and overpopulation. We focus our attention on such matters like emerging diseases, terrorism, mass shootings, nuclear weapons, and the displacement of persons. We are developing a cosmic consciousness, that is “for God’s greater glory.” We do not want to simply work, harder, faster, or more efficiently. We want to work more lovingly, more gratefully, more consciously, and more focused on promoting the development of the universal Body of Christ.
We can no longer see ourselves as independent persons seeking individual salvation. That is an un-ripened spirituality. We can see ourselves as interdependent parts of a whole. We need to lift up everyone, so that we no longer let people stay in terrible situations. We need to lift up people from poverty, from hunger, from being unhoused, from servitude, from ignorance, or from lack of purpose. This is a project of radical love.
What kind of people must we be today? We need to be team players, community builders, peacemakers, and researchers. We need to be flexible, resilient, forgiving, optimistic people. We need to learn to pray together, to contemplate together, to envision and create a new future together. Of course, the church calls us to listen first and then speak compassionately. We want to help others achieve their maximum potential and stretch the horizon, to envision what does not yet exist, and to make that happen. We have to live in the “now” and also the “yet that is to come.”
The Spirit forms us together, breathes through us together, and sends us together for the life of the world. The Spirit guides and unites. Pentecost breaks open every boundary of tribe, nation, language, and status. The Spirit forms a universal Body of Christ stretching across the world and across time itself. We are part of something infinitely larger than ourselves — a people being shaped into the living presence of Christ in the world. To this, I can only say, “Wow. Yes. Sign me up.” Do you want to come?
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Genesis 3) After Adam had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
Tuesday: (1 Peter 1) Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.
Wednesday: (1 Peter 1) He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Thursday: (1 Peter 2) Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Friday (1 Peter 4) The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and sober-minded
so that you will be able to pray. Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Saturday (Jude 17) Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. On those who waver, have mercy.
Gospel:
Monday: (John 19) When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”
Tuesday: (Mark 10) Peter began to say to Jesus, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.
Wednesday (Mark 10) The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
Thursday (Mark 10) On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
Friday (Mark 11) The next day as they were leaving Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves.
Saturday (Mark 11) As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Saints of the Week
May 24: Our Lady of the Way or in Italian, Madonna della Strada, is a painting enshrined at the Church of the Gesu in Rome, the mother church of the Society of Jesus. The Madonna Della Strada is the patroness of the Society of Jesus. In 1568, Cardinal Farnese erected the Gesu in place of the former church of Santa Maria della Strada.
May 25: Bede the Venerable, priest and doctor, (673-735), is the only English doctor of the church. As a child, he was sent to a Benedictine monastery where he studied theology and was ordained. He wrote thorough commentaries on scripture and history as well as poetry and biographies. His famous work is the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," the source for much of Anglo-Saxon history.
May 25: Gregory VII, pope (1020-1085), was a Tuscan who was sent to a monastery to study under John Gratian, who became Gregory VI. He served the next few popes as chaplain, treasurer, chancellor and counselor before he became Gregory VII. He introduced strong reforms over civil authorities that caused much consternation. Eventually, the Romans turned against him when the Normans sacked Rome.
May 25: Mary Magdalene de'Pazzi (1566-1607), a Florentine, chose to become a Carmelite nun instead of getting married. Her biography, written by her confessor, gives accounts of intense bouts of desolation and joy. She is reputed to have gifts of prophecy and healing.
May 26: Philip Neri, priest (1515-1595), is known as the "Apostle of Rome." A Florentine who was educated by the Dominicans, he re-evangelized Roe by establishing confraternities of laymen to minister to pilgrims and the sick in hospitals. He founded the Oratorians when he gathered a sufficient following because of his spiritual wisdom.
May 27: Augustine of Canterbury, bishop (d. 604) was sent to England with 40 monks from St. Andrew's monastery to evangelize the pagans. They were well-received. Augustine was made bishop, established a hierarchy, and changed many pagans feasts to religious ones. Wales did not accept the mission; Scotland took St. Andrew's cross as their national symbol. Augustine began a Benedictine monastery at Canterbury and was Canterbury's first archbishop.
This Week in Jesuit History
- May 24, 1834. Don Pedro IV expelled the Society from Brazil.
- May 25, 1569. At Rome Pope St Pius V installed the Society in the College of Penitentiaries. Priests of various nationalities who were resident in Rome were required to act as confessors in St Peter's.
- May 26, 1673. Ching Wei‑San (Emmanuel de Sigueira) dies, the first Chinese Jesuit priest.
- May 27, 1555. The Viceroy of India sent an embassy to Claudius, Emperor of Ethiopia, hoping to win him and his subjects over to Catholic unity. Nothing came of this venture, but Fr. Goncalvo de Silveira, who would become the Society's first martyr on the Africa soil, remained in the country.
- May 28, 1962. The death of Bernard Hubbard famous Alaskan missionary. He was the author of the book Mush, You Malemutes! and wrote a number of articles on the Alaska mission.
- May 29,1991. Pope John Paul II announces that Paulo Dezza, SJ is to become a Cardinal, as well as Jan Korec, in Slovakia.
- May 30, 1849. Vincent Gioberti's book Il Gesuita Moderno was put on the Index. Gioberti had applied to be admitted into the Society, and on being refused became its bitter enemy and calumniator.
