Sunday of Pentecost
Today also the Eastern Churches celebrate Pentecost. For Muslims today is the feast of the sacrifice (Aid-al-Adha).

First Reading

Acts 2,1-11

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. 'Surely,' they said, 'all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; residents of Rome- Jews and proselytes alike -- Cretans and Arabs, we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.'

Psalmody

Psalm 104

Antiphon

Let us sing, Lord, the wonders of your love.

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!

Be proud of his holy name
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.

Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgements he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.

He, the Lord, is our God;
his judgements prevail in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,

the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.

He confirmed it for Jacob as a law,
for Israel as a covenant for ever.

He said :'I am giving you a land
Canaan, your appointed heritage'.

When they were few in number,
a handful of strangers in the land,

when they wandered from country to country,
from one kingdom to nation to another,

he allowed no one to oppress them;
he admonished kings on their account;

'do not touch those I have anointed;
do no harm to any of my prophets'.

But he called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.

He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.

His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,

until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.

Then the kings sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free,

making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed,

to instruct his princes as he pleased
and to teach his elders wisdom.

So Israel came into Egypt,
Jacob lived in the country of Ham.

He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,

whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.

Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.

Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.

He sent darkness, and dark was made
but Egypt resisted his words.

He turned the waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.

Their land was alive with frogs,
even in the halls of the kings.

He spoke; the dog-fly came
and gnats covered the land.

He sent hail-stones in place of the rain
and flashing fire in their land

He struck their vines and fig-trees;
he shattered the trees through their land.

He spoke; the locusts came,
young locusts, too many to be counted.

They ate up every blade in the land;
they ate up all the fruit of their fields.

He struck all the first-born in their land,
the finest flower of their sons.

He led out Israel with silver and gold
In his tribes were none who fell behind.

Egypt rejoiced when they left
for dread had fallen upon them.

He spread a cloud as a screen
and fire to give light in the darkness.

When they asked for food he sent quails;
he filled them with bread from heaven.

He pierced the rock to give them water;
it gushed forth in the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy word,
which he gave to Abraham his servant.

So he brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.

And he gave them the land of nations.
They took the fruit of other men's toil,

that thus they might keep his precepts,
and thus they might observe his laws.

Second Reading

Romans 8,8-17

and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God. You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you. So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life. All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If we are not reborn through water and the Spirit,
we cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 14,15-16.23-26

If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you for ever, Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
he sent me to bring good news to the poor.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

We heard from the book of the Acts of the Apostles the narration of Pentecost, an event that Luke reports as the foundation of the life of the Church. It is a new time that starts with the irruption of the Spirit on the Christian community that was gathered in the upper room. The Baptist had already anticipated it pointing to Jesus: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Lk 3:16). The Church is born as a people gathered and led by the Holy Spirit. She is born not from itself, but from Above. We could say that it is the first aspect of the miracle of Pentecost: the transformation of that small group into a community united by the passion for the Gospel. Luke writes that everyone was filled with it: "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages" (Acts 2:4), communicating to all the mystery of Jesus: the Father had raised that prophet who had been crucified from the dead, the first fruits of us all. This is the heart of Christian preaching in every age. The Holy Liturgy of Pentecost makes us live this mystery again. A beautiful tradition included, during the liturgy of this day, an emblematic gesture: a shower of red petals was made to descend from the ceiling of the church, to revive even visually the extraordinary event that began the Church's journey 'outside' the cenacle. The Spirit moved the small community to overcome their fear and go out into the square, which - because of the commotion perceived by all - had meanwhile filled with a crowd of people "from every nation under heaven." Here is the second aspect of the miracle: the Church's striving for the unity of the peoples of the earth who had symbolically gathered in front of the upper room square. With narrative effectiveness, Luke presents them one by one, as in an appeal. It is the first globalization, brought about by the Spirit through the Church, of that community, of that 'we' that wants to unite the peoples of the earth. Each retains its own name, its own identity but, at the same time, all began to feel that they were one people united by the one Gospel. Different and yet united. Today too, the world needs a new irruption of the Spirit for a clearer unifying thrust. Wars tragically manifest the division of the world. There is a need for a new Pentecost for this difficult and complex time on the planet. There is a need for that 'violent gust of wind' to cause new upheaval from the hearts of believers. There is a need for bold and joyful witnesses of the Gospel. That day, someone thought the members of that small community were drunk, so evident was their enthusiasm and their joy. A new passion in the Gospel witness is also urgently needed today. The words of the martyr Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who, while being taken to Rome to be martyred, said: "In difficult times, Christianity is not a work of conviction, but of greatness," are more than relevant today. It is the greatness of love lived with passion. The Lord assures us - as we have heard from the Gospel - that the Spirit will accompany us, he will be our "Advocate," that is, our defender, he will "tell us all that he has heard, and announce to us the things to come."