The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, Pentecost Sunday, invite us to seek greater understanding of the Holy Spirit that guides the development of the Church and empowers the charism of our gifts to love and care for Creation.
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The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the Coming of the Spirit as tongues of fire.
* [2:1–41] Luke’s pentecostal narrative consists of an introduction (Acts 2:1–13), a speech ascribed to Peter declaring the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic significance (Acts 2:14–36), and a favorable response from the audience (Acts 2:37–41). It is likely that the narrative telescopes events that took place over a period of time and on a less dramatic scale. The Twelve were not originally in a position to proclaim publicly the messianic office of Jesus without incurring immediate reprisal from those religious authorities in Jerusalem who had brought about Jesus’ death precisely to stem the rising tide in his favor.
* [2:2] There came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind: wind and spirit are associated in Jn 3:8. The sound of a great rush of wind would herald a new action of God in the history of salvation.
* [2:3] Tongues as of fire: see Ex 19:18 where fire symbolizes the presence of God to initiate the covenant on Sinai. Here the holy Spirit acts upon the apostles, preparing them to proclaim the new covenant with its unique gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38).
* [2:4] To speak in different tongues: ecstatic prayer in praise of God, interpreted in Acts 2:6, 11 as speaking in foreign languages, symbolizing the worldwide mission of the church. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
Psalm 104 praises the beauty of creation with awe.
* [Psalm 104] A hymn praising God who easily and skillfully made rampaging waters and primordial night into a world vibrant with life. The psalmist describes God’s splendor in the heavens (Ps 104:1–4), how the chaotic waters were tamed to fertilize and feed the world (Ps 104:5–18), and how primordial night was made into a gentle time of refreshment (Ps 104:19–23). The picture is like Gn 1:1–2: a dark and watery chaos is made dry and lighted so that creatures might live. The psalmist reacts to the beauty of creation with awe (Ps 104:24–34). May sin not deface God’s work (Ps 104:35)! (Psalms, PSALM 104, n.d.)
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians proclaims our Unity and the Variety of our charisms.
* [12:4–6] There are some features common to all charisms, despite their diversity: all are gifts (charismata), grace from outside ourselves; all are forms of service (diakoniai), an expression of their purpose and effect; and all are workings (energēmata), in which God is at work. Paul associates each of these aspects with what later theology will call one of the persons of the Trinity, an early example of “appropriation.” (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans proclaims our identity as Children of God through Adoption.
Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13).
* [8:14–17] Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.
* [8:15] Abba: see note on Mk 14:36. (Romans, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus breathes the Spirit in an Appearance to the Disciples.
* [20:19] The disciples: by implication from Jn 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo Jn 14:27. The theme of rejoicing in Jn 20:20 echoes Jn 16:22.
* [20:20] Hands and…side: Lk 24:39–40 mentions “hands and feet,” based on Ps 22:17.
* [20:21] By means of this sending, the Eleven were made apostles, that is, “those sent” (cf. Jn 17:18), though John does not use the noun in reference to them (see note on Jn 13:16). A solemn mission or “sending” is also the subject of the post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47; Mk 16:15.
* [20:22] This action recalls Gn 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf. also the revivification of the dry bones in Ez 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf. also the note on Jn 19:30.
* [20:23] The Council of Trent defined that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18. (John, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)
The Gospel of John proclaims the role of The Advocate.
* [14:16] Another Advocate: Jesus is the first advocate (paraclete); see 1 Jn 2:1, where Jesus is an advocate in the sense of intercessor in heaven. The Greek term derives from legal terminology for an advocate or defense attorney, and can mean spokesman, mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler, although no one of these terms encompasses the meaning in John. The Paraclete in John is a teacher, a witness to Jesus, and a prosecutor of the world, who represents the continued presence on earth of the Jesus who has returned to the Father.
* [14:17] The Spirit of truth: this term is also used at Qumran, where it is a moral force put into a person by God, as opposed to the spirit of perversity. It is more personal in John; it will teach the realities of the new order (Jn 14:26), and testify to the truth (Jn 14:6). While it has been customary to use masculine personal pronouns in English for the Advocate, the Greek word for “spirit” is neuter, and the Greek text and manuscript variants fluctuate between masculine and neuter pronouns.
* [14:18] I will come to you: indwelling, not parousia.
* [14:22] Judas, not the Iscariot: probably not the brother of Jesus in Mk 6:3 // Mt 13:55 or the apostle named Jude in Lk 6:16 but Thomas (see note on Jn 11:16), although other readings have “Judas the Cananean.” (John, CHAPTER 14, n.d.)
Kent Beausoleil, S.J. recalls the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ and the wedding speech of Gus Portokalos, who proclaims “In the end, ‘we all fruit’”.
Jesus comes to us, and the spirit of his love gives us courage, as he shows us that he is one with us, he too has the wounds of life to reveal, and with him we can find our peace, the peace and the power, as fruit together, to share the good news of a love that has a ‘together power’, a power found in one another as community, a power to overcome our differences, to overcome our hate, to vanquish all violence, to vanquish all division. Yes, we are all different, but we, with the Holy Spirit alive in us and among us, we realize ‘we all fruit’. And so dear friends, may the fruit you are be turned into the wine of God’s mercy and compassion, the Spirit of light, and of life, and of love. And indeed, as we share these gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us, the fruits of the spirit alive in us, with one another and for our world, who knows, who knows, WHO KNOWS, what divine wind, will now blow. (Beausoleil, 2025)
Don Schwager quotes “The Holy Spirit at Pentecost,” by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.
"To the Hebrew people, now freed from Egypt, the law was given on Mount Sinai fifty days after the immolation of the paschal lamb. Similarly, after the passion of Christ in which the true Lamb of God was killed, just fifty days after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and the whole group of believers. Thus the earnest Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings of the Old Covenant were at the service of the beginnings of the gospel and that the same Spirit who instituted the first established the Second Covenant." (excerpt from Sermon 75.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 2:1-11 comments that we need to experience both the mercy and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to know, intimately and personally, just how forgiving God is. We need to know that nothing, not even the greatest of sins, can overcome the love that he has for us. We also need to experience the powerful rush of his Spirit filling us with confidence in God’s love. That confidence can propel us into the world to share the good news with everyone we meet.
Today, more than any other day, is a great day to ask for a fresh new outpouring of the Spirit. Ask the Spirit to flood you with a personal encounter with God’s mercy. Then ask the same Spirit to give you the courage to proclaim that mercy far and wide.
“Come, Holy Spirit! Fill me and empower me!” (Meditation on Acts 2:1-11, n.d.)
Sister Teresa White belongs to the Faithful Companions of Jesus. A former teacher, she spent many years in the ministry of spirituality at Katherine House, a retreat and conference centre run by her congregation in Salford.
When I started secondary school at the age of eleven, two new languages came into my life. In each of them, the first verb we had to learn by heart was ‘to love’ in the present tense: ‘amo, amas, amat…’ (Latin) and ‘j’aime, tu aimes, il/elle aime…’ (French).
Karl Rahner defines grace as ‘the self-communication of God in love’. Reflecting on this, it struck me that ‘love in the present tense’ is a perfect way to describe the gift, or grace, of the Holy Spirit. Love communicates before being understood: it is the language of the human soul, speaking without words, silent in the face of elusive mystery. And if we wanted to capture the essence of the Spirit’s presence in a single word, then Emmanuel (‘God with us’) would be a good choice. Indeed, if it is true, as Philip Endean SJ once wrote, that ‘… the only God who actually exists is God-with-us’,[ii] then Emmanuel could be considered the ‘family name’ as it were of the three persons of the Trinity: God beyond us, God among us, God within us. These thoughts led me to wonder whether that name, Emmanuel, which many Christians tend to associate almost exclusively with Christmas, should not also hold a pivotal place in our Pentecost vocabulary. Through the indwelling of the Spirit, God is always with us, never absent from our lives, and the Hebrew word Emmanuel verbalises the eternal presence of the divine in the whole of creation. (White, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the account in Acts of the first Pentecost Sunday. On the Jewish feast, the Spirit is crashing through the building enabling speech in different languages healing the Babel Tower. First Corinthians speaks about the charisms, spiritual gifts given as the Spirit wishes for the building up of the Church. The Spirit unites us in One Body. Romans 8 contrasts the flesh and Spirit, concupiscence, death and life. Jesus recalls “Abba” father in John 20. In John 14, on Easter Sunday night Jesus greets the apostles with “Peace be with You” and the Shalom and the breath of His Spirit. We become a new creation, teaching us how to pray. The Advocate is going to reinforce our faith by sending consoller, councilor, and Paraclete to teach us and remind us. Friar Jude notes that John, the mystic, for whom time is not important, and Luke, the historian, for whom time is very important, present the anointing with the Spirit in different times.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, encourages us to read the Scriptures by following the model of Jesus and in the company of the Holy Spirit, whose presence the church celebrates today.
Jesus knows how to connect the dots and find out where the sacred text is truly heading, beyond the lower-level consciousness of a particular moment, individual, or circumstance. He knows there’s a bigger arc to the story—one that reveals God as compassionate and inclusive. Jesus doesn’t quote lines that are punitive, imperialistic (“My country is the best!”), wrathful, or exclusionary.
This is what the Spirit teaches any faithful person to do—read Scripture (and the very experiences of life) with a gaze of love. Contemplative practice helps us develop a third eye that reads between the lines and finds the thread always moving toward inclusivity, mercy, and justice. [1]
The biblical revelation is about awakening. It’s about realization, not performance principles. We cannot get there, we can only be there, but that foundational Being-in-God, for some reason, is too hard to believe, and too good to be true. Only the humble can receive it, because it affirms more about God than it does about us. To achieve that realization, I invite us to read the Old Testament and the New Testament as one complete book: an anthology of inspired stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. Read it as one Spirit-led text. (Rohr, n.d.)
We invoke the Spirit to fill our hearts and kindle in them the Fire of Love that fulfills our Creation and directs our mission to witness the Spirit renew the face of the Earth.
References
Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?1
Beausoleil, K. (2025, June 8). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/060825.html
John, CHAPTER 14. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/14?15
John, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?19
Meditation on Acts 2:1-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/08/1300439/
1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/12?3
Psalms, PSALM 104. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/104?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Reading with the Holy Spirit. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/reading-with-the-holy-spirit/
Romans, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?8
Schwager, D. (n.d.). They Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit! Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun8
White, T. (n.d.). Love in the Present Tense. Thinking Faith: The online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/love-present-tense
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