27/05/2007 - THE FEAST OF PENTECOST - Year C
First Reading Acts 2,1-11 Psalm 103
Second Reading Rom8,8-17 Gospel John 14,15-16. 23-26
We have prayed, asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today, the Father hears
our prayers; He is sending us the Holy Spirit who will give new life and light
to mankind, and first of all to those who love Jesus. They will see the creation
with other eyes, as a manifestation of God's glory.
At the first Pentecost the Spirit inspired the Apostles a deep and ardent desire
to speak about Jesus, to make Him know to everyone. The Holy Spirit revealed
to the Apostles first of all the fact that Jesus is not only a master, but that
He is in fact their life, their love, the gift of God needed by humanity. They
could not keep silence. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit they became
God's instruments in order to continue Christ's work, to transform the world,
to make of it a Paradise of reciprocal love and of communion with the Father,
instead of a place where Satan reigns.
The Holy Spirit came also to those who are listening to the Apostles and gave
them the desire to change their life and way of life. Holy Spirit came also
to the Samaritans who listened to Philip; and to the pagans gathered in the
house of Cornelius when they opened theirs cars and hearts to the word of Peter:
and all were filled with joy!
This same Spirit is coming also to those who today are listening to those who
are transmitting the message of Christ the Lord. Whenever or wherever someone
is speaking about Jesus a kind of joy an happiness and new life is spreading.
The words who are speaking about Jesus are understood in every language. In
today's first reading S.Luke enumerates 15 nations who are listening to Peter
and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. And all of them understood very well
and perfectly the announce of the death and Resurrection of Jesus! It is the
Holy Spirit who reveals the personality and divinity of Jesus and the love of
the Father for all mankind, all the nations. For nobody Jesus is foreigner;
for nobody He is useless or even harmful. If someone believes in Jesus, the
Holy Spirit will change his life fill his heart. The Holy Spirit enriches mankind,
the cultures and the way of life.
Especially, the holy Spirit changes the heart through repentance, teaching us
that we need forgiveness, recognize the fact that the suffering of Jesus were
also do to our sins. Thanks this humility the Holy Spirit can operate in us
and increases our love to the Son of God.
The today's Gospel too shows us that in fact the love of Jesus is the center
of everything; when this love is alive the Father comes near his creatures.
Jesus said to the disciples: "If anyone who loves me… my Father will love
him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him". Those who loves
Jesus become the temple of the presence of God. Those who loves Jesus, even
without speaking about it, show the untruth of other realities accepted in the
place of God. They are untruth because they cannot give joy and love.
The feast of Pentecost, celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit can not
be separated from the Father or the Son. It is the Father who is sending the
Spirit, but it is the Son who prays the Father to send it.
The great Russian S.Seraphim of Sarov said the aim of Christian life is to obtain
the Holy Spirit who from our heart will spread over the whole world and transform
it. We are really human beings if the Holy Spirit is working in us. For this
purpose we have to stay near Jesus; be with Him and hear his words, words of
wisdom and truth. His words that is like a key for open our heart to accept
the Holy Spirit.