Reflection from Fr. Charlie – Pentecost Sunday

Acts: 2-1-11

1 Cor 12: 3b-7,12-13

John 20:19-23

On a past retreat that I was on. Father Dennis Robinson presented the image of the Church as an elephant – it’s so large that we zero in on a certain part and made it the whole. Vatican Council II saw the Church as the People of God – acknowledging the presence of the Holy Spirit in all the baptized.

This reading from the Acts of the Apostles is very familiar to us – Pentecost is Good News. It is often referred to as the “Great Sunday” – God’s spirit cuts across all human barriers and unites what looks divine. That first Pentecost was very dramatic – all were changed, all were sent to proclaim the Good News of Easter.

In John’s gospel, the gift of the Holy Spirit is connected to Easter Sunday and the risen Lord. There is an association with peace, a lasting peace which is found in the pursuit of the truth. The Holy Spirit inhabiting the Church invites humanity into the spirit of reconciliation first witnessed in the language of Pentecost.

This is time when we can continue to witness to the mighty acts of God in my life. In this time of the pandemic, we recently celebrated a week to honour our nurses. We see in them such an example of the working of God. As we continue to hear our Church bells ring at 9 a.m., Noon, 3 & 6:00 p.m. let us pray the “Our Father” for our health care workers.