The Gospel for Pentecost Sunday (John 15:26-27, 16:12-15) is part of the Last Supper discourse in Saint John’s Gospel. Jesus tells his disciples that unless he goes the Holy Spirit cannot come, and that when the Spirit comes he will reveal the righteousness of God, the truth about the Father, and glorify Christ himself. “When the advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness…he will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine”.
The First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) describes the actual descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples on Pentecost Day. Gathered together in one room the disciples suddenly heard a powerful wind from heaven and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak, each in their own language “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.”
The power of the Holy Spirit is given to each of us at Baptism and Confirmation, but in order to advance on the path of discipleship we need to let the Spirit to have power in our life. The Spirit is the very life of God within us, the Advocate, the Counsellor to whom we can turn to for advice. The Spirit guides us into the way of truth and love, into the way of Jesus. We are called to be like Christ – to love as he loved and that is why we need the Holy Spirit – we cannot do it on our own. We depend on the strength of the Spirit.
Saint Paul tells the Galatians in today’s Second Reading (Galatians (5:16-25) “Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.” Let us reflect on these words and pray for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives this Pentecost. It is the will of God to give the Spirit freely to those who ask. Can we invite the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on us to give us the grace to go forward in our relationship with Christ?
‘Let us invoke the Holy Spirit each day: He guides us along the path of discipleship in Christ’. Pope Francis Twitter @pontifex 23 May 2015
