by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian community, its baptism in the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that first stirs the dark waters of chaos at creation, the same Spirit that God breathes into the first human, the same Spirit Ezekiel envisions bringing dry bones back to life—this same Spirit Jesus breathes upon the community of very ordinary disciples who gather in fear and confusion on the evening of the first Easter.
These disciples whom John’s gospel places behind locked doors have no common purpose yet, no flow chart for organizing a church, nor any experience with membership drives. The company of 120 whom Luke describes waiting for the Spirit on Pentecost in Acts have no training in public speaking nor any written traditions of Jesus’ teaching.
The men and women who receive the Holy Spirit have only their lived experience of Jesus out of which to weave a new community. They followed Jesus in his ministry. They left their homes and livelihoods to be with him, to learn by his doing, to absorb his teaching. They witnessed his healing, forgiving, freeing outreach to poor, forgotten, and marginalized people. They experienced the hopeless defeat of his death and the awakening of new promise and purpose with his resurrection.
Our world today challenges us to live the gospel globally. On our behalf Catholic Relief Service has established global humanitarian networks that reach out to people suffering poverty, war, and disaster and do the works of mercy. Religious orders have put Catholic social teaching into action in schools, hospitals, and social service agencies.
We of the third millennia have seen Earth from space. We can phone home from almost anywhere on the globe. Evolution tells us we are part of one great whole. Our mission seems clear.
- To what does celebrating Pentecost this year call you?