Holy Spirit Sunday - Pentecost, Year B: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: Come, O Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth

Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Gal 5:16-25; Jn. 15:26-27,16:12-15

Dearest brothers and sisters, today the mother church celebrates her birthday, the solemnity of the Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples with tongues of fire, and they spoke many languages. It was on the Pentecost that the mission of the Church to all tongues, all peoples and all nations was inaugurated.

Actually, the Pentecost means the fiftieth day, and it was on the fiftieth day after the resurrection that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. According to the Old Testament tradition, the feast of the Pentecost was already an important feast in the life and history of the Jews. On that day, the Israelites celebrated two events in their lives. First, on the Pentecost, the Jews commemorated the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses by God on Mount Sinai, which happened fifty days after the Passover. They called it the feast of weeks (in Hebrew language, ‘chang ha shevout’). Second, on the day of the Pentecost, the Jews also celebrated their agricultural feast, the offering of the first loaves from their farm to God. They called it the festival of Harvest (in Hebrew language, ‘Yom ha-bikkurim’). These two great Jewish feasts, which the Jews celebrated on the Pentecost, drew a good number of Jews from all over the world to Jerusalem to identify with their religion and their country. It was on account of this that many people from all over the world were present the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples as we read in the first reading. So, Christ chose the best day to send the Holy Spirit upon his disciples and to inaugurate his Church, the day when the whole world would be gathered in Jerusalem, so that the message of the resurrection will reach the whole world.

The feast of the Pentecost is very important in the life of the Church because of the impact of the Holy Spirit in the life of the early Church, in the life of the present Church and in the life of all of us. It was the Holy Spirit that changed the apostles from men who were afraid into men who were filled with strength and courage to preach the Good News to all humanity. Recall that before the day of Pentecost, the disciples were afraid of going out to preach the Good News, but when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they dashed out of the House and started proclaiming the message of the resurrection without fear. The presence of the Holy Spirit made the difference, and has continued to make a difference. Let us, therefore, pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our own Churches and Homes, to free us from fear and to empower us with the courage to be good testimonies of Christ wherever we live and wherever we go.

The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles also signified that the hand of God has once more taken control of humanity. In the book of Genesis chapter eleven, as we read in the first reading of the vigil mass of this feast, which told us the story of the tower of Babel, God used the power of different languages to confuse and disperse humanity all over the world when humanity wanted to build a tower of equality with Him. But on the feast of Pentecost, God used the same instrument of many languages to unite humanity again. The first reading of today told us that the disciples spoke many languages, but people of other languages understood them in their own tongues. What a great unity through language. Dear friends, what that unity of language tells us is that the Pentecost is a feast of unity and new life. It is the celebration of the outpouring of new life into the church and into the world because the hand of God has touched humanity once again. It is a feast that challenges us who have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit to live the life of unity and newness. If the hand of God has touched you through the Holy Spirit, your life should bear the fruits of unity and newness.    

Dear brothers and sisters, we should also remember that on the feast of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit broke the wall of division and misunderstanding among human beings by creating a common understanding between many different languages. On that day, those who spoke Italian understood Arabic, and those who spoke Russia understood Aramaic, those who spoke English understood French; there was no misunderstanding. We can say that the Holy Spirit, the author of unity, spoke our language on the day of the Pentecost, and created unity among men. Hence, the same Holy spirit wants us to speak His own language too. This is the challenge for all of us. But then, what is the language of the Holy Spirit. The language of the Holy Spirit is clearly written in the second reading of today. It says the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, patients, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These fruits are the languages of the Spirit. The church wants us to start speaking this language. Speaking this language means living our lives according to these wonderful fruits of the Holy Spirit. If you are living your life according to these fruits of the Holy Spirit, you are already speaking the language of the Holy Spirit

It is however sad that many people in our world have chosen to constantly speak the language of the devil instead of the language of the Holy spirit. The second reading also told us what the language of the devil is. It says: ‘now the works of the flesh are immorality, impurity, licentiousness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. These evil things listed above are the languages of the devil. Those who live their lives according to them are speaking the language of the devil.

Let us pray in today’s Mass that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been poured on us and on the church, the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety, and fear of the Lord will help us to speak the language of the Holy Spirit everyday of our life. Amen

Happy Feast Day

Fr Isaac Chima

 

SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST, YEAR B: HOMILY BY FR. JUSTIN ADIELE

THEME: “THE SPIRIT THAT RENEWS THE FACE OF GOODNESS IN US”

INTRODUCTION:

The word “Pentecost” is from a Greek derivation; “Pentekostos” or “Pente-koste”, meaning “fiftieth day”. It is a Jewish holiday festival of Weeks which falls seven weeks after the Jewish Passover Feast. This “Weeks Festival” (“Shavuot” in Hebrew) stems from Leviticus 23:16, which called the people to count seven weeks or fifty days from the end of Passover, and present an offering of new grains to the Lord. This ‘Shavuot’ or Weeks Festival was the second great feast in the Hebrews’ annual cycle of holy days. Many, who have benefited from the year’s harvest, gather to thank the Lord of the harvest with grain offerings. It was on this day that the Holy Spirit descended on Mary and the Apostles; exactly fifty days after Easter. In the same context of bringing new grain offerings to the Lord, the Lord offered and poured out His own fruits/gifts of the Holy Spirit to the world.

 

THE FIRST READING (ACTS. 2: 1 – 11)

In the first reading, we read about the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the effects. They began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, imparting in the lives of the many races and tribes of people gathered for the Weeks Festival. The Holy Spirit renewed the face of their communication, and they spoke in the language everyone could understand. Their communication with the power of the Holy Spirit attracted many towards them. Today, we need the Holy Spirit to also renew the communication amongst us, amongst brothers and amongst nations who are still at war with each other. May the Holy eliminate every bridge in communication and help us to understand rather than misunderstand one another and live peacefully with one another!

 

THE SECOND READING (GAL. 5: 6 – 25)

In the second reading, we read about the fruits of the Holy Spirit which God offers to the world to renew our walks from walking in the darkness of the flesh, to walking by the Holy Spirit. We need and invoke the Holy Spirit upon us today, to change from walking in immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, hatred, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy and drunkenness; to walking in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and appeasing one another. The Holy Spirits renews us to appease and not to provoke one another.

 

THE GOSPEL READING (JN. 15: 26 – 27; 16: 12 – 15)

In the gospel reading, Jesus pre-empted the Apostles, that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will renew them in the truth and in their witnessing for Christ. And today, at the festival of weeks, they received the Holy Spirit and courageously sprang into witnessing, away from every fear, and idle, silent or cold faith.

 

CONCLUSION

The Holy Spirit comes to renew the face/warmth of God in us; the face/warmth of goodness. The Holy Spirit renews us in good communication with one another; renews us in walking in love and righteousness with one another; and renews us in fervent witnessing for Christ to the glory of God and our own glory. May the same Spirit pour forth upon us the gifts and unction for every good work, in relation to the world around us and in relation to God, without ever growing cold in faith and in love!

Happy Feast of Pentecost!

Fr. Justin

 PENTECOST SUNDAY, YEAR B: REFLECTION BY FR JULIAN EKEH

THEME: RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

(John 20:19-23)

Today is a great solemnity, the Pentecost Sunday. The Church celebrates the decent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. It is the continuation of the glorious mysteries and, in fact, a very significant one indeed. We celebrate the third glorious mystery today.

Today, the Church calls to mind an event that coincided with the agricultural feast of the Jews and redefined it. We celebrate the fact that a mighty wind blew, to blow away fear and blow in courage and power from above. The Church celebrates the great miracle of recreation. The Church thanks God for the unction with which she began to function. The Church marks her birthday today.

The Church celebrates a reawakening and a return to consciousness and mission effected by the Ruah Adonai. The Church celebrates God-breathedness, the breath that vivifies and revitalizes. The Church calls to mind a transcendental replication of what happened in Eden when God breathed into the motionless man and made him live. The Church witnesses the prophecy of Ezekiel about the spirit that blew on the lifeless bones and gave them life. We celebrate answered prayers that our being locked up in the upper room was not in vain. That the voice of prayer is never silent.

We celebrate in Thanksgiving the fulfilment of the promise made by Jesus, that He will not leave us orphans.

We celebrate our adoption as children of God, for by the Spirit we have received, we can comfortably call God Abba Father.

We celebrate our liberation and the freedom of the children of God, just like a tied fowl or a caged bird celebrates when freed. We rejoice that we have been privileged to be given the gift we cannot merit so much to receive.

We celebrate the New Pentecost.

 

WHAT IS PENTECOST?

It is derived from the Greek 'pentekoste', which means literally '50th'. It is an agricultural feast, a wheat harvest festival (cf Exodus 34:22). It is a Jewish feast with which they marked the end of their Passover celebration. It is also used to celebrate the Shavuot, which is the feast of weeks in Hebrew. It is the celebration of the seven weeks after Passover.

With time, this Jewish festival became an occasion for commemorating the giving of the Torah by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

It is good to underscore that this celebration gathered a good number of people from far and wide into Jerusalem. It was a homecoming for the Jews in diaspora, a pilgrimage for foreigners, an economic adventure for business tycoons, and tourism as well for great and small alike.

 

WHAT'S SPECIAL?

What we celebrate is not the Jewish Pentecost. We are not celebrating the Shavuot. Not the giving of the Torah to Moses, not the homecoming nor the pilgrimages. Oh no!

We are celebrating that on this ordinary day of Jewish celebration, something extraordinary happened. It is no longer the giving of the Torah to Moses but the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. It is not a thanksgiving for a journey made by Moses but a thanksgiving for an ascent made by Jesus, the Son of God, which necessitated the advent of the Holy Spirit. It is not the old law that held people bound but the new law of love that set people free. We celebrate that on this day, the Holy Spirit took the centre stage. Attention was focused on the apostles, passivity was translated to activity, the captives were liberated, and the fearful became fearless. A mysterious proclamation resounded, and the whole tongues of the world were unified by the Spirit of understanding.

In a special way, today's celebration will bring an end to the Easter season.

 

WHY WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT

Proclamation

What Jesus taught His disciples was meant to be communicated. But with timidity that communication cannot occur. So, with the tongues of fire on their heads, they were set on fire to proclaim the Love of God in such a manner that people even accused them of being drunk. Be open to that fire of the Spirit and communicate Divine wisdom by your words and actions. May it not be quenched.

 

Baptism

Being confirmed and commissioned by the Holy Spirit, they received the authority of regeneration, of bringing people into the body of Christ. Those who received the communication of the word had their rebirth and new life in Christ. 3000 were baptized on the Pentecost day. How are you operating with the baptismal grace you received? It is a day to rekindle the light of our baptism and carry the same light to everywhere we may find ourselves.

 

Effective functioning in the world

To function effectively in the world, we need the Holy Spirit. The word of God says, take away the Spirit they return to clay (psalm 146:4).

We will do nothing without the Spirit of God. We will be lifeless without it. We will be empty without it. Our prayers will be a waste of time without the Spirit, and our hope will be useless without the Holy Spirit.

 We need the Holy Spirit to live holy life. That's why Jesus says: "Receive the Holy Spirit." The Church needs it to give and receive forgiveness. He is the forgiving Spirit. We need it to live in us and work with us, He is the wisdom of God. We need it to replace our unholy desires and steer up holy deeds. "Receive the Holy Spirit " means receive answers to your prayers, it means receive fulfilment of my promises to you, it means you're not alone, it means God will confuse your enemies, they will look at your success and will not understand what's going on, it means that the righteous will gather around you for Thanksgiving, it means receive reason for living, it means receive power to forge ahead. It means receive power from above. It means that the powers from below can never stop you from soaring high.

May you receive this Spirit, may the operations of the Holy Spirit destroy the activities of the evil cabals who are holding the progress of this country and of our world.

May God bless His word in our hearts.

 

LET US PRAY

 Holy Spirit of God, Spirit of the Risen Christ, fall afresh in us. Fill us with power from above. Fill us with courage and wisdom to face and overcome the world. Fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your love. Raise up for us leaders with fear of God and holy dreams. Burn to ashes the power of sin and the agents of darkness.  Give us the grace to succeed in all our endeavours. May we enjoy Your abiding presence and work with it for our salvation and those of the whole world through Christ our Lord. Amen

Happy Pentecost Sunday

Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh

 

Friday of 7^th Week of Easter: reflection

Theme: Let us recommit ourselves to Jesus.

Reading: Jn. 21:15-19

Dear friends in Christ, when we fail Jesus, He doesn’t give up on us, He doesn’t abandon us. Rather, He, continually approaches us with clear opportunities to come back to Him and reclaim our rightful positions. We are, however, the ones who often, out of shame and feeling of guilt, distance ourselves from Him after every fall.

After denying Jesus three times, Peter was not cast out by Jesus. Instead, Jesus came back to Peter in today’s gospel reading and gave him opportunity to renew his commitment to Him and once again assume his pastoral service of leading His flock.  

Jesus’ demand for agape love (sacrificial, selfless, unconditional love) from Peter in His first and second questions to him demonstrated the kind of recommitment He wanted from Peter and, in extension, from all of us in our services to Him after our falls. After every fall, Jesus opens a path for us to come back to Him with renewed strength, and with a resolution to recommit ourselves totally to Him above all else.

Peter’s persistent response with philia love (brotherly love) to Jesus’ demand for agape love showed our human weakness in accepting and entering the kind of relationship that God demands from us. However, Jesus’ last question which changed from the demand for agape love to that of philia love once again showed God’s readiness to accept the little honest efforts that come from us.

Have you deviated from the path that Jesus has set before you? Have you succumbed to human weaknesses in your service to Jesus and humanity? Don't give up, don't despair, don't become comfortable in your failures, because Jesus is still interested in you; He has not given up on you. Rather, He has opened the door for you to return and recommit yourself to Him, reclaiming your lost glory. Mind you, He will appreciate even the smallest of your efforts.

May God give value to your little efforts this Friday. Amen  

Fr. Isaac C. Chima

 

 

Thursday of 7^th Week of Easter: reflection

Theme: Come, O Holy Spirit, our defender

Reading: Acts 22:30;23:6-11

On one of the occasions where Jesus informed His disciples that they will be arrested, beaten and taken to court or synagogues on account of His name, He immediately assured them that they should never worry about what to say or how to defend themselves at such moments, because the Holy Spirit will teach them what to say (Mk 13:9-11; Lk 12:11).

The narrative of the first reading of today showed us Jesus’ faithfulness to His word, for He cannot fail.

St. Paul was arrested, beaten and brought before a tribunal to be tried and imprisoned. When he was asked to defend himself, only a word that came out his mouth sent his accusers into a great confusion, divided them into opposing camps and turned them against themselves. That night, Jesus appeared to him and congratulated him for bearing witness for Him in Jerusalem. He also urged him to do the same in Rome

Dear friends, the Holy Spirit, our defender is with us. Therefore, let us not be afraid of what the enemy will do to us when we bear witness to Jesus with our words or actions. If God wants to set us free from any case brought against us, He will do so because He has complete control over all situations.

May the Holy Spirt speak for you in all encounters and activities this Thursday. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima

 

Wednesday of 7^th Week of Easter: reflection

Theme: Let us keep the fire of faith alive in all we do

Acts 20:28-38; Jn 17:11b-19

The two readings of today's Mass come with two touching farewell messages/wills and prayers. The first reading was taken from Jesus' final prayers for his disciples before His passion, in which He commended them to God, asking God to keep them united, and protect them from the evil one for they are not of the world. Following the footsteps of Jesus, when St Paul was departing Ephesus after his missionary work there, he assembled the elders, commended them to God and gave them his parting will, charging them to take good care of the Church and to stand against wolves that would come to attack God's flock. In these two scenes, we see honest efforts to keep the faith alive and to ensure that it continues to thrive in coming generations.

From these two readings, we can extract some points that will assist us to keep alive the light of faith in our world and to pass it successfully to future generations.

First, Jesus prayed that we may be one in His name. Friends, to convince the world with the message we preach, we must eschew all backbiting, divisions, unhealthy competitions and campaign of calumny against fellow Christians.

Second, Jesus said ‘we are not of the world’. Friends, it is true that we live and operate in a world tainted by sin, with temptations lurking around every turn. However, if we must keep our faith alive, influence the world by it and successfully pass it on to future generations, we must be true to our Christian identity in all circumstances, swimming against the current of sin everywhere we find ourselves.

Third, St Paul urged the elders to guard against wolves that may attack the Christian community with perverse teachings. Friends, we have the Christian duty to stand against any ideology that goes against our Christian moral values, whether it is coming from within the church or from the state. The devil, as we know him, can use anyone to achieve his plans.

May God’s grace light up your way as you carry out the activities of this Wednesday. Amen.

Fr Isaac C. Chima

 

May 14 – Feast of St Matthias: reflection

Theme: This I command you, to love one another as I have loved you.

Reading: Jn 15:9-17

The theme of love occupied a special place in the discussion of our Lord Jesus Christ with His apostles in today’s gospel. He told them two times that whoever loves him will keep his commandment, and also two times that his commandment to them is that they should love one another, and this love must be as He loved them. It should be the love that moves one to lay down everything, including his life, for the beloved; the love that compels one to always consider the best interest of his beloved in all his actions and decisions.

Today, the Church is celebrating the feast of St Matthias, who replaced Judas among the twelve apostles. If Judas had loved as Jesus preached, he wouldn’t have sold Jesus and wouldn’t have lost his position in heaven. If Judas had considered the best interest of the one he sold, he would have conquered his selfish desire for money. Recall that when Judas was promised 30 silver coins, he lost his mind, allowed his selfish desires to overcome him, and sold a friend to whom he owed the duty of love.

Our world is dotted with many cases of people who betrayed the ones they owe a duty to love just because of material interests and gains. Selling out has become a common practice in our world. But then, we must understand that failing to love as Jesus commanded is sufficient to deny us a position in the community of the apostles and saints in heaven, as it happened to Judas. If we fail to love as Jesus commanded, our position will be taken by another person. Let us resist every temptation to betray our call to love as Jesus loved us.

May God’s blessings be abundant in your life this Tuesday. Amen.

Fr Isaac C. Chima