Today our nation celebrates two important events. For Catholics, it is the Solemnity of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit, the Advocate promised by our Lord Jesus Christ was given to his disciples in the Upper Room. For our country, it is the 113th Independence Day celebration, but I will make a comment on this later. But the coming of the Holy Spirit that we read in today’s gospel happened before Pentecost Sunday, it happened right after our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected on Easter Sunday where he appeared before his frightened disciples huddled in the Upper Room. You can find it in John 20: 19-23.
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Of course today’s First Reading is on Acts 2:1-11 about the events that happened on Pentecost Day itself. However today’s gospel emphasizes that our Lord Jesus Christ had reasons to breath the Holy Spirit to his disciples in order to empower them for their mission up ahead… that is the power for the forgiveness of sins. The resurrected Jesus already knows that he has to return to the Father soon, hence someone must do his work here on earth; hence he gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us for the journey ahead.
When the resurrected Lord appeared before his disciples after his brutal crucifixion, he clearly knew that his disciples were frightened of the reprisals by the Jews. But then the Lord suddenly appeared in their midst in the Upper Room despite the fact that they locked the door shut. Hence Jesus had to reassure them and said, “Peace be with you.” He did not only say this once, but twice. Then he showed them his holy wounds, as it is the best proof that Jesus had indeed physically suffered and died from these wounds.
In breathing to them the Holy Spirit, his disciples were now guided by the Spirit of Truth, that indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death as he prophesied when he was still with them, especially his words, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” In remembering these words, the disciples now realize that he was referring to his body as the Temple of God, not a mortar and stone building of the temple that was eventually destroyed and up to this day, it remains a wailing wall.
The reason why I want to make a comment on our Independence Day today is due to the fact that today’s celebration of Pentecost Day is also a celebration of the coming of the truth. In John 16:12-15. Our Lord Jesus said, “I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will no speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Actually for my generation, we should only be celebrating the 65thanniversary of our Independence Day because truly, the Philippines was granted independence by the Americans only on July 4, 1946 when the member countries belonging to the United Nations (UN) recognized Philippine sovereignty and not on June 12, 1898.
While history tells us that on June 12, 1898, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo waved the Philippine Flag in the balcony of his residence in Kawit, Cavite. There’s a saying that goes, “A man’s house is how own castle.” Hence the act of waving the Philippine flag by Gen. Aguinaldo in his own residence while making a call for independence did not result in our country achieving independence. More importantly, no nation on earth recognized our sovereignty for that act.
Since we are changing our history, we might as well change our Independence Day to the day that Dagohoy defied the Spaniards in Bohol in the longest rebellion against Spanish rule or go further back in history when Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan. You can also say that Philippine Independence was achieved when Pantaleon Villegas a.k.a. “Leon Kilat” routed the Spaniards in Tres de Abril (April 3, 1898) and captured and held Cebu City under his rule for four days. With the Holy Spirit given to us during Pentecost Sunday, we are guided only by one truth, the truth coming from our Lord Jesus Christ who is truth personified. So let’s welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and our souls and be blessed with the truth!
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