20220605 GOD WANTS TO MAKE HIS HOME IN US
05 June, 2022, Sunday, Pentecost
First reading | Acts 2:1-11 © |
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 103(104):1,24,29-31,34 © |
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are,
How many are your works, O Lord!
The earth is full of your riches.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
You take back your spirit, they die,
returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the earth.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
May the glory of the Lord last for ever!
May the Lord rejoice in his works!
May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
I find my joy in the Lord.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading | Romans 8:8-17 © |
Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God
People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.
Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.
Sequence |
Veni, sancte Spiritus
Holy Spirit, Lord of Light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.
Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come with treasures which endure
Come, thou light of all that live!
Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow
Thou in toil art comfort sweet
Pleasant coolness in the heat
Solace in the midst of woe.
Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill:
If thou take thy grace away,
Nothing pure in man will stay
All his good is turned to ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew
On our dryness pour thy dew
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will
Melt the frozen, warm the chill
Guide the steps that go astray.
Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts descend:
Give us comfort when we die
Give us life with thee on high
Give us joys that never end.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
John 14:15-16,23-26 © |
The Holy Spirit will teach you everything
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever.
‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
GOD WANTS TO MAKE HIS HOME IN US
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1, 24,29-31, 34; Rom 8:8-17; Jn 14:15-16, 23-26]
One of the most amazing promises of God is that He wants to dwell in our midst and in us. Jesus said, “my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” This promise began with King David when he wanted to build a house for the Lord. However, the Lord said, “I will make you a house. I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” (2 Sm 7: 11-14) This was of course fulfilled in Christ when the Holy Spirit came upon Him at His conception and at His baptism. He was called the Emmanuel, God is with us. Anointed in the power of the Holy Spirit, He went about proclaiming the Kingdom of God, curing the sick, delivering those who were oppressed, and reconciling men with God. The final establishment of the Kingdom of God was realized with the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord. For on the cross, He commended His Spirit, which is now bestowed on His disciples at Pentecost when He “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'” (Jn 20:22) This is in fulfilment of the prophecy of Ezekiel, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.” (Ezk 36:26f) With the coming of the Holy Spirit, God dwells in the hearts of men and women.
Today’s gospel clarifies how this would take place. How does the Holy Spirit come to us? Or how do we receive the Holy Spirit? Indeed, many of us also desire to receive the Holy Spirit that the early Church received. In the first reading, we read how the Spirit makes Himself visibly felt and experienced by the people, just as in the case of Jesus’ baptism when the Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven spoke. Their experience of the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit was as concrete, in the form of a powerful wind and tongues of fire, and they were “bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished.” In truth, our doctrines assure us that when we are baptized, we also receive the Holy Spirit, and especially at confirmation, when we receive the Spirit anew for the power of witnessing and proclamation.
How is it then that we cannot feel the presence of the Spirit in our lives? St Paul says, “People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you.” Indeed, we lose the presence of the Spirit because of sin. When we live unspiritual lives, we become numb to the presence of the Spirit. We shut out the Holy Spirit from our lives until a time when we deny the reality of the Holy Spirit. This is what happens to those who are baptized and neglect their spiritual life. They become used to sin and alienated from God in personal relationships until they come to a time when they cannot recognize Him any longer, which is what the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is all about. Hence, we cannot feel His presence and detect His movements in our lives. St Paul wrote, “In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him.”
This explains why the call to conversion from sin is a prerequisite for the reception of the Holy Spirit. The holiness of God and His Spirit is not compatible with sin. Unless we are conscious of our sins and our unworthiness, we cannot receive the Holy Spirit or be awakened to receive Him. Those of us who have been baptized but have over the years grown cold or lukewarm or indifferent to the Lord, will not be able to recognize His presence in us. Through hearing the Word of God anew and being brought to a recognition of our sinfulness, we will be able to receive the Holy Spirit and experience His healing grace in a tangible way at prayer, worship, or when we receive the Sacraments. Hence, a genuine and sincere confession of sins precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit. The deeper the contrition, the greater the docility in receiving the Spirit of God. We must remove the obstacle.
Conversely, the Lord in the gospel assures us that God will make His home in us if we welcome Him in our hearts. He said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever. If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” Keeping His commandments is a prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit anew. St Peter told the Sanhedrin, “We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32) Obedience is the requirement for the Holy Spirit to come to our hearts anew. Obedience means surrender. This is because obedience is the way in which the Holy Spirit makes His home in us. This is the beginning of our sonship. The meaning of sonship is obedience. Hence St Paul says, “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!'” As children of God, we live our lives in the freedom of the Spirit and no longer in fear under the slavery of sin.
Hence, the first step towards obedience is to believe in Jesus, the Word of God so that we can receive the forgiveness of sins through Him. This explains why immediately after His resurrection at Pentecost, the Lord empowered the apostles to forgive sins. “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'” (Jn 20:22f) Peter said to the crowd, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38f) The apostles were given the primary task of forgiving sins through the sacrament of baptism and reconciliation. Hence following the sermon of St Peter, “those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.” (Acts 2:41f)
Secondly, through a conscious experience of the Holy Spirit, we have a greater awareness of our identity as the sons and daughters of God, not as an intellectual truth but as a personal experience of being loved by God. After all, the Holy Spirit, as St Paul wrote, is the love of God poured into our hearts. (Rom 5:5) This comes about through the laying on of hands, reception of the gift of tongues, knowledge, understanding, peace, forgiveness, freedom and healing of body, soul, and mind. Many experience the fruits of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5. By experiencing the power of His love in a tangible manner, we come to realize the personal presence of the Holy Spirit. This is where we need once again to bring back the gifts of the Holy Spirit. People need to see and hear the marvels of God through the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, whether in spectacular or just the ordinary gifts of love, service, administration, and care for the poor and the sick.
Thirdly, after conversion, we must in the power of the Holy Spirit, put an end to the sinful life we used to live in the past by living a new life in Christ. St Paul wrote, “So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives.” St Paul says, “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal 5:16-21) With the Spirit in our hearts, we will come to greater awareness and understanding of scriptures when we read with love and faith. For as the Lord assures us, “I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” The Word of God will be our Sword and Armour against the Evil One.
Finally, this must lead to mission. We are holy, not to be separated from the world but to sanctify the world in the Holy Spirit. The goal of Pentecost is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel to all nations. The first reading from the Acts gives us a preview of the Universal Church in a miniature beginning, where people from all nations came together as one people, sharing the same faith in Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit. That the apostles spoke in different tongues, is the anticipation that all humanity, regardless of race, language or culture will come to know the Lord. The Church must continue to be that sacrament of the unity of the human race so that the world will once again be one family of God when all are reconciled in and through Christ with the Father, whether explicitly or implicitly. In this way, salvation is realized for all of humanity, reconciled with God and with each other, and living in unity and love.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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