It has been said, tongue-in-cheek, that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. To that pair, the element of change can indisputably be added.
Experience tells us that change is indeed an inevitable fact of life. Change can be welcome or unwelcome, easy or difficult, minor or major, for better or for worse. Saint John Henry Newman, the great 19th-century scholar and convert from Anglicanism, said, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” In a word, the Solemnity of Pentecost, as well as the long season of Ordinary Time that flows from it, is about change.
Major changes took place at Pentecost both in the Apostles and those who heard them preach. Before Pentecost, the Apostles were confused about many things: the teachings of Jesus, the meaning of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection and their future mission. After Pentecost, infused with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they were clear about their life’s work and mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus among the nations. Before Pentecost, the Apostles were fearful even for their lives. After Pentecost, they were fearless and unstoppable, preaching the Word of God to the crowds with all boldness. And what happened to the many people who witnessed the zeal of the Apostles for Christ and heard their powerful preaching? They were converted on the spot! Thus, after Peter’s Pentecost sermon, 3,000 people immediately embraced the faith and were baptized.
Today, the Holy Spirit continues to work in the world in more subtle but no less spectacular ways. The Holy Spirit makes the words of Sacred Scripture living and effective in our lives. So, when the Word of God is proclaimed at Mass, it is Christ himself who speaks to us. When the words of institution are spoken by the priest over ordinary elements of bread and wine, they are substantially changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. When penitents confess their sins to a priest, they are absolved. All those deeds are accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit. In fact, all of sacraments are “mini-Pentecosts,” which make Christ present to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Consider, too, the life-transforming change wrought over the centuries by the Holy Spirit in the vast number of canonized saints.
Saint Hilary of Poitiers, a 4th century bishop and doctor of the Church, said, “The gift of the Holy Spirit is offered in its fullness to everyone, but it is given to each one in proportion to his readiness to receive it. Its presence is the fuller the greater one’s desire to receive it.”
May the gift not lie dormant in us, the gift we first received at Baptism and then, in its fullness, at Confirmation. Let us repent of our sins to make ourselves ready to receive it again, as if for the first time, as we ardently desire to awaken it in our lives.
Father Edward Kolla is a retired priest of the Diocese.
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