It is Pentecost Sunday

Today is Pentecost Sunday. It is the day that our Lord kept his promise to send the Advocate who will remind all of us of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel reading today comes from John 14: 15-16, 23b-26 about the Advocate.

“[Jesus said to his disciples] 15 if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. 23 “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling in him.

24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. 25 I have told you this while I am with you. 26 The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.”

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Allow me to add to today’s gospel reading the First Reading which you can read in Acts 1L 1-11.

“1 When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. 2 And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. 3 Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. 6 At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard of them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?

9 We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia. 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

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When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and disciples of Jesus, it came like a divine wind that engulfed the entire house and then suddenly tongues of fire burned on top of their heads and soon they were speaking in different languages yet they understood each other.

Whenever I write about the dramatic events that happened during Pentecost Sunday, it always reminds me of Genesis 11 on the Tower of Babel very early in the Bible. It is because early mankind in those days spoke only in one language. But when God saw that one man would order the rest to build a tower to reach the heavens, He saw that it was an attempt by man to become like God. So God scattered these men by confusing them with different languages and soon, man formed their tribes according to their native tongue. Indeed, it was the Triune God that created so many languages on this earth.

So when Pentecost Sunday came, the Holy Spirit came into the midst of the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ and soon many of them were speaking in tongues and easily understood one another despite their coming from different lands and speaking different languages. One would have thought that this time, God would have allowed humankind to speak in one language. But this was not so. God did not change the edict that he ordained during the Tower of Babel, but with the Holy Spirit, man can speaking different languages and be understood.

Indeed, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of knowledge. As what our Lord Jesus said, if we love him and we keep his commandments, “We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Can you imagine yourself becoming a dwelling of divinity? Not if you continue committing sin. This is why all of us must go to confession in order to cleanse ourselves from the stench of our sins and when our souls are emptied of our sinfulness, then the Triune God would make a dwelling within us.

If you think that this is impossible, let me point out that for God, nothing is impossible. All that one needs to do is obey the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. This is exactly the role of the Holy Spirit within us, to remind us to always obey God’s commandments and if we fail, God still made sure that we could avail of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that the unfathomable Divine Mercy of God would cleanse us from our state of sinfulness and restore us to the kinship of God.

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