Pentecost - the gift of Jesus that keeps on giving

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

Pentecost is one of those vivid and symbolic feasts of the Church that many of us associate with imagery of fire and the Holy Spirit. In many pictures, we will often see our Lady together with the Apostles, and tongues of fire over each of their heads. What we often forget to understand is the deeper meaning behind it all. 

• Why does Jesus send and give us the Holy Spirit?
• Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
• Why is Our Lady in the scene at Pentecost, and what is her connection with the Holy Spirit?
• Why does the Holy Spirit give us gifts, and what is the meaning behind gifts from God?
• What gifts has Jesus specifically given us?

To explore these questions, I would first like to start with the last point. What gifts has Jesus specifically given us?

In the Gospels we can highlight a few of the following that Jesus gives/promises us-  rest (Matthew 11:28-30) His peace (John 14:27),  the Eucharist (Luke 22:19-20, Matthew 26:26-39, Mark 14:22-25) , the example of service (John 13:15-17), a New Commandment (John 13:34), how to pray (Luke 11:2-4, Matthew 6:9-13), eternal life (John 11:25 - 26), a place in His Father's house (John 14:1-3), always being with us and not leaving us orphans (Matthew 28:28, John 14:18)  his mother Mary (John 19:27), the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, John 14:16, John 20:22).

All of the teachings and promises of Jesus are regarding gift of eternal life and salvation. However, If we had to group the promises, we could roughly put them into 3 categories -

• The gift of the Sacraments
• The gift of His own mother
• The gift of the Holy Spirit

These 3 gifts are so intrinsically linked, that we can easily overlook or take the connections for granted. 

As Catholics, we know that the Sacraments of the Church were established and instituted by Jesus Himself, and handed on to the Apostles who were the first Bishops. For most of us we have heard it often enough that Jesus gives us forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal life, and the power of prayer as the Children of God. We also know that Trinitarian Baptism was instituted by Jesus (Matthew 18:19-20), as well as His Body and Blood in the Eucharist (John 6:54-56). On Holy Thursday He instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper when he commanded them to continue His memorial of the Eucharist (Luke22:19-20). Sometimes we may forget the connection between the power He granted to priests to forgive sins in Confession (John 20:21-23). 

All the Sacraments are for strengthening our faith, keeping the teachings of Jesus alive in us and building up the Body of Christ - the Church. It is the power of the Holy Spirit present in the Sacraments that enables them to have life giving power, so that they actually do/impart the reality behind what is symbolised in the action ..ie waters of baptism symbolically wash but actually cleanses and purifies us from original sin, the annointing with chrism and laying on of hands gives us the Holy Spirit who is the seal/annointing of God and overshadowing Divine Presence that we become temples of, eating consecrated bread and wine as food bring us into union with the person of Jesus Christ Himself, the words of the priest spoken over us absolving us of our sins become a guarantee and declaration of forgiveness by Jesus Christ Himself. 

The power behind the Sacraments comes from the authority of Jesus Christ Himself and the action of the Holy Spirit who is present in the Sacraments (CCC #1076). The Holy Spirit keeps alive the memory of Jesus in the Church (CCC #1099), preserving the Church and giving us life, as well as leading us into the fullness of truth while comforting and teaching us (John 16:13).  As the Catechism powerfully states in paragraph #779:  

"Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among his members to nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to give them life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to his self-offering to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world. Through the Church's sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit to the members of his Body." (CCC 779)

So we can see that the Sacraments are inseparable from the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit they are just empty symbols, but with the Holy Spirit they become life giving actions that impart grace and divine life to us. This is why Jesus emphasises that the Holy Spirit is the Gift of God, that is Living Water (John 4:10). It is the Holy Spirit that gives life and power (John 6:63). 

At Pentecost we celebrate and remember the wonderous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The dramatic manifestation of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit now outpoured and given to the Church through a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). In the Old Testament, the presence of God manifested as fire in the desert and especially in the glory cloud in the Temple. Now in the Kingdom of God - with the 12 Apostles as the foundation of the New Israel, the Holy Spirit manifests as fire over them to signify His presence among them and with them. 

So where does out Lady fit into all of this?

Just before the scene of Pentecost in the books of Acts, it specifies that they all gathered together in prayer with Mary the mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14). This is a very important point that should not be easily overlooked. Because in the Gospel of Luke, the comparisons are made with Mary being the Ark of the New Covenant. This is demonstrated by Mary being "overshadowed" by the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation (Luke 1:35). This overshadowing or covering of Mary by the Holy Spirit is the same terminology used to refer to the Glory of God, the Cloud of Presence (or the Shekinah as the rabbinic tradition call it) in the Temple during worship (Exodus 24:16, Exodus 40:34-38, Numbers 9:15-23). The same mysterious fiery cloudy presence of God that appeared to Moses and led the Jews out of Egypt, that dwelt with them and was present in the Temple - overshadowed Mary and she conceived Jesus by this same mysterious powerful presence. 

We only hear of this presence a few other times in the gospels - the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration. Then no further mention is made again - until Pentecost! And it is precisely with the Apostles gathered as the New Israel, together with Mary the Ark of the New Covenant that the Holy Spirit manifests upon, giving new strength, vitality, life and courage. They have now received the power that Jesus promised He would send them, just before He ascended into heaven. 

As I have pointed out in a previous post - at the ascension Jesus did not leave the Church, but rather He was enthroned in heaven as the Head of the Church and is still present with us through the Sacraments and the Holy Spirit. This is why in the Divine Office during Eastertime, the following passage from Acts 5:30-32 is regularly repeated throughout the season. Because it links the fruits Paschal Mystery of Jesus (forgiveness of sins), with the witness of the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6-8) and the Gift of God - the Holy Spirit, the Divine Indwelling of God within us as His temples:

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:30-32) 

The Apostles now empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are transformed men. They have gone from running away and abandoning Jesus and denying Him during His Passion - to now boldly declaring themselves as witnesses to Him as the Messiah and Saviour . The difference in them is now the presence and gift of the Holy Spirit who is leading them, guiding them, strengthening them and giving life. The Living Water is now nourishing them, raising them from their weakness and giving them power to work miracles and speak the truth of the Gospel to all nations. Giving them strength to remain joyful during persecution and rejoice in tribulation and the face of death (Acts 5:42) . Only the presence Holy Spirit can do this!

But behind the scenes in all this is the subtle presence of Our Lady. She is the faithful one who stood bravely at the cross while Jesus was being crucified (John 19:25). She is the one who would have told St Luke the story of what happened to her at the Annunciation when the Angel of the Lord, Gabriel appeared to her and told her she would become pregnant. Then she would have recounted that mysterious encounter she had of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her and of her unconditional Fiat to God as she proclaimed she is the Handmaid of the Lord. She would have recognised the presence of her Spouse, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the wind and the fiery tongues. 

Mary the mother of Jesus, the Mother of God - the Theotokos, is now also the Mother of the Church. She who gave birth to the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, was also present when the power of the Holy Spirit manifested at Pentecost and was poured out into their hearts as the fiery love of God (Romans 5:5). On the cross, Jesus Himself gave us the gift of His own mother - "behold your mother" (John 19:27). He still asks us today to receive His mother as His gift to us, just as He also gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Advocate. The Holy Spirit is the one who keeps the memory and teachings of Jesus alive is us today and in the Church through the Sacraments and sanctifying grace. 

Pentecost is now no longer a once off distant event. Pentecost is available to us everytime we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and pray. The Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5), we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3) as our pledge and guarantee of Jesus (2Cotinthians 1:22), the Holy Spirit is alive in with resurrection power (Romans 8:11), and also interceding for us and teaching us to pray (Romans 8:26-28). This is the gift of Jesus that never ends, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

It is only the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to follow Jesus and to be called Children of God (Romans 8:14, John 1:12). The promise and relationship with the Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus to His Body, the Church. As our Head, He has sent us the Holy Spirit to keep us in unity, harmony and communion to mutually build eachother up and to proclaim the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is the flame that keeps the memory of Jesus alive in us and in the Church, specifically through the Sacraments. These become the living encounter of Jesus coming to us, and us receiving the grace of freedom from sin and strength to live anew each moment the promises of Christ. All of this happens under the encouragement and protection of the loving Mother of Jesus, our mother of grace and Mother of the Church. She who kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19, Luke 2:51), also keeps us in her Immaculate heart so we too can keep Jesus alive in our heart through the Holy Spirit. 

This is why Pope St Paul VI declared Mary as Mother of the Church at the end of the Second Vatican Council. Just as 1500 years earlier at the Council of Ephesus, Mary was dogmatically declared Mother of God, Theotokos - he developed the Marian Ecclesiology of the document Lumen Gentium to now proclaim Our Lady as Mother of the Church. The Divine Maternity of Mary, in a mysterious way extends now to the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. 

This is why in 2018, Pope Francis established the Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church to be celebrated on the first Monday after Pentecost. Mary is every present in the Church, united with us in prayer just as she was with the Apostles in the Upper Room at Pentecost. The presence of Mary and the Holy Spirit cannot be separated. So this Memorial of Mary, mother of the Church helps to show us how the Church, the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit and Our Lady are all intimately connected and unite us closer to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

May we always accept the gifts that Jesus gives us and offers to us, never rejecting them. Let us thanks Jesus always for the gifts of the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit and his own mother!

Mary, Queen and Mother of the Church - Pray for us! 

The Ascended King reigns through the Church in the Sacraments

"God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast" Psalm 47:5

Happy Solemnity of the Ascension!

Today we celebrate the mystery of the Lord's ascension, his "going up" into heaven in His resurrected and glorified body. 

We profess this mystery every Sunday at Mass in the Nicene Creed "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end." But do we ever meditate on what this means? Why do we ever profess it in the Creed? If Jesus rose from the dead and we believe in the resurrection, isn't that enough? Why is the ascension so important that it is in the creed?

The mystery of the ascension is the crowning event of our salvation. In the incarnation, God become one with humanity in the person of Jesus Christ and shares our human nature. In the crucifixions, Jesus dies and takes all of our sins upon Himself. Death takes the bait and tries to swallow him up, but as St Maximus the Confessor teaches, death by trying to swallow Jesus is now destroyed by His divinity. Through the mystery of the Hypostatic Union (the union Divine and human nature in one person) - this means that by taking away our sins in His physical body and destroying death in the resurrection, that now our bodies are able to be free from sin and death. We share in His resurrection, through our union with Him in baptism, because we are now one with Him. 

But this is not the end... there is more!

In the ascension, Jesus is now bodily glorified and enthroned at the right hand of the Father. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead (Apostles Creed). So our bodies will also be raised one day and brought to heaven. Jesus goes before us to the Father, and will come back for us and bring us with him. He is preparing a place for us right now (John 14:2) and when the time comes, he will return with trumpet blast at the Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas both make the connection from the 2nd Reading we have in Ephesians today, that in the ascension, Christ is now the Head of the Church, and we as his Body here on earth in the Church will come to share in His enthronement and glorification next to the Father (Ephesians 1:20-24). So through our baptism and union with Christ, we are not only Children of God, but we are also members of Christs Body which is the Church. So as His members, we will share in everything He has gained for us - resurrection, glorified bodies, eternal life, victory over sin, heaven, and Divine Indwelling of the Trinity.  

Is there any wonder why today in the Responsorial Psalm, we repeat the words "God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord." Because Christ himself has now taken His throne, and ascended to the Father. He has now been exalted, had all things put under his feet and is the ruler - the Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:22). His victory is now complete and he takes his place prepared for him from the foundation of the world (Psalm 110:1-5, Ephesians 1:4-6).

So if Jesus is now reigning in Heaven as the head of the Church, what about us now here below? Didn't He promise us in the Gospel to be with us always until the end of time? (Matthew 28:20). This is where the importance of the Sacraments come in!  

Many of the Church Fathers made the connection that through the Sacraments, Jesus is still present in the Church in a mysterious but physical way. This is how Jesus keeps the promise of always being with us and not leaving us orphans, although he is now seated in glory at the right hand of the Father. 

Now some of you may think that the emphasis on Jesus being physically with us in the Sacraments and linking this to the ascension, in some way tries to deny the physicality of the resurrection and is some new age wishy washy teaching! I myself used to be skeptical of this, until I read the 1st reading in the Office of Readings today that says "He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10).  

Pope St Leo the Great also makes this connection of Jesus still physically being present to us in the Sacraments, but in a mysterious way. This is why He promised the Gift of the Holy Spirit who will Comfort us, and lead us into the Truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is present in the Church as its very soul, giving us life and power ever since Pentecost.

This is why the Gospel today ends with Jesus telling the Apostles to go baptise, and then ends with the promise of always being with them. The Church has the mission from Christ to continue His work of salvation, bringing people into His Body the Church, offering them salvation and new life. It is precisely through the Sacraments that Jesus remains present with us and among us, so long as we are united in His Name and in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the gift and seal, the promise of Jesus that guarantees He is with us still (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who continues to be the Lord and Giver of Life as we profess in the Nicene Creed. The Holy Spirit vivifies and sanctifies us in the Church, and this is done primarily through the power of the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments. Just as Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and became man, so too Jesus continues to remain physically with us through the guarantee and power of the Holy Spirit. 

Just as the Church is the Body of Christ, it is also the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth. Our King is Jesus Christ, the Shepherd King of Love. So Christ reigns in His Kingdom and is present at all times in His Sacraments, making each and everyone of us coheirs with Himself. This is the gift of what we remember and celebrate today at the Ascenion. As with anything we celebrate liturgically - it is not just a past of historical event. But through the Holy Spirit in the Church, what we celebrate liturgically is a life giving reality that we participate. It is something that we also take part in and receive the blessings from. 

In Baptism we died with Christ, in His Resurrection we have Risen from the dead - and in His Ascension we are raised up to heaven with Him. (Colossians 3:1-4, 1 Timothy 2:11, Romans 6:3-11, Ephesians 2:6)

So today, let us shout for joy and sing praises. Let us acclaim with the Psalm that the Lord has mounted His throne to songs of praise. Let Jesus be enthroned in our hearts as we participate at Mass, sharing in the mystery of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Becoming one with the Risen Christ, so that united with Him, when He comes again in glory for us He will recognise us as His own.