Pentecost Sunday

Šālôm "Peace be with you."

Happy Pentecost Sunday to everybody. This is a great celebration of the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Trinity.

The Holy Trinity decides to go on a vacation. The Son proposes to go to San Fransisco, but the father finds that place too liberal-minded. So, the father offers to go to Jerusalem. Jesus said that "I can't go on vacation there!" "That's where I got killed! I can't believe you just said that!"

After 1 hour of discussing where to go, the father and the Son excitedly say they want to go to New York. "New York?" says the Holy Spirit, "Great idea! I've never been there before!"

I hope the Holy Spirit has been here.

Today, I would like to introduce the greatest gift we receive as Christians.

That is the gift of the HS. This is the greatest gift for humanity. "Receive the Holy Spirit." In other words, we receive "love," receive "life," and receive "God" because the HS is God, love, and life. Jesus breathed the HS into his disciples.

The Holy Spirit gives new life. The Acts of the Apostles recounts: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (Acts 2:1-4).

Since receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples have become different. Before, they were fearful, and now they are brave and joyful. In the past, they were just uneducated fishermen, not understanding the doctrine, but now they raise their voices to preach the Gospel to people of all races.

We all received the HS at baptism, but how do we keep what we received? It is by way of giving it away. Dear brothers and sisters: It is very important to know that: the whole purpose of spiritual life is: receiving divine life and giving it away.

We cannot keep the divine life for only ourselves. If we want to keep it ONLY for ourselves, we will lose it. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:270).

This is the principle of spiritual life: if we want to gain our lives, we must lose our lives. We will lose the divine gift when we try to keep it as a possession. We receive divine gifts to share, and the more we share them, the more it increases.

We received the HS for a mission: The word mission (Latin: missio), as a translation of the Greek apostolē, it means “a sending.” “As the father has sent me, so I am sending you.” This is our mission, the mission of being sent by Jesus who breathed on us the HS. The HS that Jesus breathed on his disciples 2 thousand years ago is the same the HS whom we received at baptism and strengthenedby the gifts of HS at the sacrament of confirmation. It is the same HS who works in the Church. Jesus breathed the HS into the Church, and we all stand for the Church.

So, what is our mission after receiving the HS?

We are the bearers of the Spirit, the bearers of life, love, and forgiveness. We are the bearers of divine gifts that make God present and give life to the world. We got to share what we have received.

We share the HS by giving life to those who are lifeless. We share the Spirit of God by changing hatred into love. We share the HS by bringing God's peace into countries at war. We share the HS by forgiving the fearful, broken, and sinful. Our job as we have received the Holy Spirit is to breathe forth that Spirit of love, peace, forgiveness, and life into our brothers and sisters who are around us.That is what happened at the Pentecost long ago. As Jesus breathed on his disciples the HS, then the disciples were sent to breathe that same HS into the world.

This is the principle of the Church mission; the HS is life and life-givers, Jesus breathed HS into our souls in baptism, and we are sent to breathe that same HS into the world. The HS cannot be kept ONLY for us, but we are sent to give that same HS to others. We need to share the divine treasure that we have received. We are called to live according to what we received like Augustine said, become what we receive.

Dear Brothers and sisters, please do not let what we receive remain in ourselves alone.

We have received the gift HS at baptism through Jesus Christ. This gift comes from Christ, and we can state that we receive God himself. This is amazing, brothers and sisters. Who are we to receive, God of all creation into our hearts?

When we receive the HS, we all receive his love, mercy, and forgiveness. He said, "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." This is not only the foundation of the sacrament of reconciliation which is the instrument of God's divine mercy, forgiveness, and grace but is also the divine mission for each of us that we are sent to breathe Christ's mercy and forgiveness into others: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Jesus sent us to be the sharers of his divine life and the receivers and bearers of the HS. Pentecost is not simply an event celebrating the birthof the Church or a memorial mystery that happened more than two thousand years ago, but it is a mission of sharing what we have received. May we become what we receive, and May the HS be shared.