20260524 UNIVERSALITY AND BREATH OF THE GOSPEL
24 May 2026, 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 |
1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 |
In the one Spirit we were all baptised
No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.
Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.
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 20:19-23 |
As the Father sent me, so am I sending you: receive the Holy Spirit
In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.
‘As the Father sent me,
so am I sending you.’
After saying this he breathed on them and said:
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
For those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven;
for those whose sins you retain,
they are retained.’
UNIVERSALITY AND BREATH OF THE GOSPEL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 2:1-11; 1 COR 12:3-7,12-13; JOHN 20:19-23]
Today, there is much talk of inclusivity. In itself, it is the right step in promoting unity and cohesiveness among people. In the heart of every human person is a desire for unity and communion. We are created for love, and the expression of love is unity. Only when there is love and unity can there be world peace.
As we celebrate Pentecost, we are invited to promote unity and peace in the world through an authentic love for all of humanity. If the Christian Gospel is called the “Good News”, it must be good news for all, regardless of language, race, or religion. The Risen Lord comes to give us peace so that we can be messengers of peace. “He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.'”
Peace cannot be attained by violence, wars, weapons, or technology. This is the perennial mistake of humanity. The First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the reversal of Babel. We read in Genesis 11 that those who sought to build the tower cut off their reliance on God and depended only on themselves. If we follow that path, technology, science, and reason will bring about further division.
Humanity can only be united when there is a real communion between God and man, and among men. In the First Reading, we read of the miracle of the gift of tongues. “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.” The gift of tongues enables us first and foremost to communicate with God and with our fellowmen.
What is this gift of tongues? What most of us are familiar with, especially those in the charismatic renewal, is what we call praying in tongues. In glossolalia or ecstatic speech, the person addressed is God Himself. This language, however, is made up of syllables unintelligible to the speaker. It was widely practised in the early Church till the fourth century by both clergy and laity. Because of the Charismatic renewal, this gift is once again being practised. It is called the “language of the angels” or a “language of the Spirit”, and is used as a form of deep, contemplative prayer to the Lord.
Indeed, whether we exercise the gift of glossolalia in prayer or not, the essential truth is that we all need to communicate with God. A radical religious experience like receiving the gift of tongues is inexplicable and beyond description. Everyone remains incomplete unless we are in union with God. As Saint Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” Regardless of whether we are believers or not, Christian or from other religions, we all need to encounter God deeply and intimately, without which we remain incomplete and restless.
At the same time, this religious experience underscores the essence of this truth that without a real encounter with the Lord, there can be no real transformation in our lives. The Apostles upon receiving the Holy Spirit were transformed from fearful and timid peoples to bold witnesses for the Lord. It is our religious experience of God that will determine how we worship Him and how we share our experiences with others. At the end of the day, conversion is not a matter of intellectual conviction alone – it is rooted in a radical experience of the sacred. This explains why St Paul declares, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” The work of conversion is not the work of man but the Holy Spirit who touches the hearts of man. If a person comes to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, it is because of the gift of the Spirit.
There is yet another aspect of the gift of tongues – the gift of prophecy given to the universal Church and all humanity. God raises people, within and without the Church, to address issues that affect society and the world at large. Today, we still need prophets to speak courageously on the trends in the world. More than ever, we need strong, courageous, wise, and foresighted statesmen and religious leaders to proclaim the truth to humanity. Tragically, in the world today, leaders are afraid to speak the truth lest others get offended.
In the final analysis, the only language is love. This is the only tongue that is truly universal. We need to pray for a renewal of love in our hearts for God and for humanity. The gift of tongues symbolised by the tongues of fire is a call for us to reignite the love of God in our hearts. Unless we are filled with the Spirit of Christ’s love, we cannot go out to the world and renew the face of the earth. Love is the beginning and basis of mission. Jesus said, “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” It was because of the Father’s love for humanity that He sent His only Son for its salvation.
It is the Spirit of love that raised Jesus from the dead that urges us to bring reconciliation to the world, for that is what the Lord commanded the disciples to do: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Forgiveness and compassion are the way forward for reconciliation. The Good News is that our sins are forgiven. We do not have to live in fear and guilt like the apostles hiding in the upper room. Jesus the Risen Lord came to them and offered them peace through forgiveness of their sins. The Lord wants to liberate us from our guilt and self-hatred so that we in turn can be His messengers of peace to others, freeing them from their guilt and fear and healing their wounds.
It is the same Spirit of love that invites us to appreciate and recognise the gifts of the Spirit in others, even when they are not of the same faith. St Paul reminds us “there is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.” So long as they teach the values of peace, love, joy, kindness, and generosity, they, too, are working from the same Spirit. Who is not against us is for us. St Paul reminds us that we are ultimately one body in Christ, one family of God, and all have been given the one Spirit to drink.
Let us be promoters of dialogue and reconciliation wherever we are – at home, in church, in the office, in society. Let us encourage each other in doing good regardless of race, language, or religion. Let us build bridges and not barriers. This is what it means to carry out the mission of Christ in building a world of unity, love, and peace.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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