Pentecost Sunday 8.6.14
‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And ‘The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord’. God can fill people and can fill the whole universe.
His presence in the universe is easier to discern because there the goodness of His creation comes through more obviously. The beauty of the created world shines through, even though it has been defaced by so much sin.
When it comes to people the activity of God is sometimes evident when we see such things as kindness, generosity, heroic self-sacrifice. But it can be obscured by sin. Even with a sinful person, however, we can still see the outlines of what God intended when creating him.
But certainly God wants to fill every person with His presence. “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2,28-29)
Brother will have no need to tell brother, learn to know the Lord (Jer 31,34).
If we are all filled with the knowledge of God we do not need to tell each other what to do. Everyone will know intuitively.
All this is what Pentecost does, or at least begins to do.
When the Holy Spirit takes charge each person is changed for the better. He knows what each person needs, by way of correction, and also what each person is called to do, by way of entrusting with gifts.
When we are all free from fault and enthused about the faith we meet as one body, strong in mutual charity and strong in a desire to take the word of salvation to the world.
Such was the Church on the first Pentecost and so we have ever been trying to re-capture that status.
Not all give sermons but all should be bubbling over with the presence of God. He is so good we cannot keep Him to ourselves.
Enthusiasm does not have to be expressed loudly or in a spectacular way. It could be quiet daily attention to duty. We do whatever is required, and the Holy Spirit will direct us as to what that is.
Every particle of creation belongs to Him - every blade of grass, every bird in the tree, every star in the sky proclaims His goodness.
His presence is not restricted in place (to churches) nor in time (to Sundays). Every time and place are His domain. All is sacred in that sense (cf Zech 14,21). This means in practice that we should use everything as God intends it to be used, and never to act outside of His will.
We face complex political and social issues, such as how to treat refugees, how to help the poor. What to do? We do not always know. But we can at least say that the best and ultimate solution is to obey the will of God, to be free of sin, and filled with His knowledge.
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that He may show us His ways (Is 2,3). We strive for a situation where we all know what God wants, and we all want the same as He does.
We are so far from this just now. That is one reason we are still praying.
We say the Holy Spirit has come, yet we ask Him to come. Why? We need more of Him. As much as we have received of Him so far, we build on that – till everything is complete.
As when we are trying to stir up a fire we poke around until the flame bursts forth. So we pray in the quiet times when nothing seems to be happening. And something will happen!
That first Pentecost will always inspire us. Everything that happened there is still applicable to us.
Come Holy Ghost, fall afresh on us.
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