It is just the Beginning: The Feast of Pentecost

                                                    It is just the Beginning:

The Feast of Pentecost

May 28, 2023

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Acts 1:12-14; Psalm 27; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11

 

One of my favorite lines from Christians in the Middle East when I spent time as pastor in the Kingdom of Jordan occurred when they were asked when their families first became Christian. Astonished, they would shake their heads in disbelief and say, “We were at Pentecost,” as if it was common knowledge. They were proud that their faith was rooted in the Holy Spirit. For them, Pentecost was the beginning of everything.

 

Pentecost is often seen as the completion of the Easter season, an agricultural feast fifty days after Passover-Easter, when Ordinary Time returns to the Church. The Church often misses out on the fact that this was the very beginning. With the appearances of Jesus complete, the mission to proclaim the reign of God was left up to the disciples under the guidance of the Spirit.

 

All the accounts we heard in the Easter cycle of Paul and the other Apostles building new churches began during Pentecost. The Gospel passage reveals Jesus breathing upon the Disciples and bestowing peace. He knew they would need it for the difficult mission they were about to begin. Many of the Disciples were killed, some by crucifixion, and converts experienced persecutions and were thrown out of their own synagogues. This was far from a peaceful time.

 

Paul’s story could have been read as a Passion narrative because he survived shipwrecks, stoning, muggings, forced exiles as well as sustained attacks from the conservative Jews, who were intent on destroying his message and disparaging him. Paul, once a devout Jew, knew the enormous energy that was necessary to withstand the assaults and to prepare himself for engagement with those conservative Jews. He likewise had to strengthen and form his communities to remain faithful to the person and message of Christ. The proclamation of the Gospel took root among the God-fearing Gentiles and many Jews, and Paul remained obedient to Jesus and his Spirit, as Jesus was obedient to God. This time of Pentecost was not easy, and Paul’s self-offering is a model for us as we proclaim the Gospel in our contemporary contexts.

 

As disciples, we have the same mission to proclaim the reign of God. Sometimes we do it inside the church; other times we do it beyond the walls. Pentecost is the feast where we receive the same message despite our language and cultural barriers, and we need to understand the peace that Jesus gives us to endure hardships and afflictions, to engage in discernment and dialogue with people who are hostile to God’s rule, and to choose wisely and prudentially where we will expend our energies. Pentecost is not a nice, feel-good moment of harmonious relationships and solidarity; it is the beginning of a mission that entails hard work and tireless devotion to Christ. May our prayer be that we receive this peace that Christ offers so we can have the courage and energy to complete His mission. It is in the Spirit of Christ that we place our hope. It is this Spirit given over two thousand years ago who has not altered the goal. The Spirit will remain with us forever, not to do our will, but to do the will of Christ, who has shown us the way to God, and the Spirit, as history can attest, is quite formidable. Let us then, comply with the Spirit and set the world on fire with the love of Christ. 

 

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: (Sirach 35) For the LORD is one who always repays, and he will give back to you sevenfold. But offer no bribes, these he does not accept! Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion. For he is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.

 

Wednesday: (Zephaniah 3) Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies;
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.

 

Thursday: (Sirach 42) At God’s word were his works brought into being; they do his will as he has ordained for them. As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the LORD fills all his works.

 

Friday (Sirach 44) Now will I praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time. But of others there is no memory, for when they ceased, they ceased. And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them.

 

Saturday (Sirach 51) I thank the LORD and I praise him; I bless the name of the LORD.
When I was young and innocent, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer I prayed for her before the temple, and I will seek her until the end, and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.

 

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 (Luke 1) Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.

 

Thursday (Mark 10) As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

 

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; it was not the time for figs.

 

Saturday (Mark 11) “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”

 

Saints of the Week

 

May 31: Visitation of the Virgin Mary commemorates the visit of Mary in her early pregnancy to Mary, who is reported to be her elder cousin. Luke writes about the shared rejoicing of the two women - Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth's surprising pregnancy in her advanced years. Elizabeth calls Mary blessed and Mary sings her song of praise to God, the Magnificat.

 

June 1: Justin, martyr (100-165), was a Samaritan philosopher who converted to Christianity and explained doctrine through philosophical treatises. His debating opponent reported him to the Roman authorities who tried him and when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, was condemned to death. 

 

June 2: Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs (d. 304) died in Rome during the Diocletian persecution. Peter was an exorcist who ministered under the well-regarded priest, Marcellinus. Stories are told that in jail they converted their jailer and his family. These men are remembered in Eucharistic prayer I. 

 

June 3: Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs from Uganda (18660-1886) felt the wrath of King Mwanga after Lwanga and the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) censured him for his cruelty and immorality. The King determined to rid his kingdom of Christians. He persecuted over 100 Christians, but upon their death new converts joined the church. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• 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. 
• May 31, 1900. The new novitiate of the Buffalo Mission, St Stanislaus, in South Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland, is blessed. 
• June 1, 1527. Ignatius was thrown into prison after having been accused of having advised two noblewomen to undertake a pilgrimage, on foot, to Compostella. 
• June 2, 1566. The Professed House was opened in Toledo. It became well known for the fervor of its residents and the wonderful effects of their labors. 
• June 3, 1559. A residence at Frascati, outside of Rome, was purchased for the fathers and brothers of the Roman College.