Homily For The Pentecost Sunday, Year C.

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Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1.24.29-31.34; Romans 8:8-17; John 14:15-16.23-26.

“THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH”

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide

·       Today marks 50 days after the Resurrection of the Lord. It also marks the end of the Easter season. It is also a special day, marking the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise to us, his disciples, at his ascension into heaven: “I will send you a helper, an advocate” (Jn. 14:16).

·       Today is Pentecost Sunday. The inauguration of the era of the Spirit in the church. Today is the day all of us have been waiting for and preparing for with various spiritual and devotional exercises, such as fasting, novenas to the Holy Spirit, and going to confession, to prepare us for the reception or reactivation of the Holy Spirit within us.

·       Today is indeed the day the Lord has made, the day the church is given the auction to function. The official inauguration of the church. Today, the church is given a universal character because before now, there was a warning not to go beyond Jerusalem. But today we receive the mandate to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

·       There are a lot of misconceptions about who and what the activities of the Holy Spirit are. And false teachings are propagated by some of us, maybe in ignorance.

-        The Holy Spirit is not a bird (dove) but could manifest in that form as in the case of the baptism of the Lord (Lk. 3:22, Matt. 3:16, Jn. 1:32).

-        The Holy Spirit is not an angel. The Holy Spirit is far higher than the angels.

-        The Holy Spirit is not a thing; he is a person. He is God and the third person of the Blessed Trinity.

-        It sounds funny when you hear people praying or what you call ministration, and they say, “Receive it or take it”. The word “it” refers to an object and not a person.

·       Today inaugurates the era of the Holy Spirit. Our salvation history is divided into 3 major epochs, with the persons of the Blessed Trinity playing active and passive roles simultaneously. The Epochs – creation, Redemption, and sanctification.

·       At creation, God the Father is an active participant while God the Son and the Holy Spirit play passive roles (Gen. 1:26). At the redemption of the world, God the Son is an active participant while God the Father and God the Holy Spirit play passive roles. For the continuous sanctification of the world, the Holy Spirit is an active participant while God the Father and God the Son play passive roles. All things are made new, giving us the strength to witness.

·       Pentecost corrects the confusion, pride, and arrogance of Babel (Gen. 11:7,9). Pentecost is a feast of unity, community, and missionary desire. The disciples speaking in different tongues in the first reading (Acts 2:1-11) bring out the effectiveness of the Spirit of Evangelism, which they all received. Speaking in different tongues means that they spoke the languages everybody understands, irrespective of tribe, colour, or race.

·       The different tongues are the fruits of the Spirit that should translate to a better appreciation of the things of the Spirit according to the second reading (Rom. 8:8-17). The reception of the Holy Spirit should empower us to long for the things that are spiritual since the Holy Spirit dwells in us (Rom. 8:9).

·       The Spirit that we celebrate is a spirit of reactivation, reawakening, and reinvigoration. It is a spirit that gives life to our bodies that have been polluted by sin. There would always be a struggle between the spiritual and the unspiritual, but the consciousness of the new Pentecost, which we all receive today, should turn our lives to the Glory of God.

·       If the spirit you and I received is true, then we must learn to do things differently. Be courageous in professing your faith because the spirit we received is not a spirit of timidity (2 Tim. 1:7).

·       Having received the Holy Spirit, we must bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit as against the fruits of the flesh. We all understand the language of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are universal languages that unite the world rather than divide us.

·       These languages or fruits of the Spirit should be used in the service of the church and the common good and not for selfishness, self-exaltation, or money-making.

·       The gifts of the Holy Spirit come with boldness to stand tall against all odds. The courage to swim against the current of the world without fear.

·       The essence of Pentecost is the renewal of the Holy Spirit we received at different stages of our lives.

·       The Holy Spirit is for the renewal of our faith and the face of the earth.

·       We need this renewal in our church, families, business, schools, offices, and indeed in our nation.

·       The Holy Spirit helps us keep God's commandments. So let us all be determined to keep God’s commandment and enter into his peace. May the Holy Spirit transform us for the better - now and always. Amen!

·       Happy Sunday!!!

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