Are you ready to be transformed?
The people of Israel have long recognized God’s power to renew the face of the earth; Psalm 104 is a proclamation of praise to God for all God has done for God’s creation. In Genesis, God breathes God’s spirit into Adam to animate him, and God ensures that all of creation has what it needs in order to bring forth life. In John’s version of the Pentecost, Jesus similarly breathes upon the disciples when he visits them in the upper room, when the doors are locked, after the resurrection. Receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, after twice wishing that peace be upon them. In a sense, Jesus is calling the disciples past their desire for the so-called normal, that they might be open to change, to transformation. They have a lot of fear to overcome; fear drives our lives all the time. But the peace of the Spirit helps us to conquer fear, that we might appreciate all that God is doing in our lives.
The Pentecost story the evangelist Luke presents in the Acts of the Apostles is radically more dramatic: a driving wind, flames as of fire, and the unanticipated ability to speak in different tongues are extraordinary events one would normally associate with a theophany (or visible manifestation of the Lord), all of which are possible because the Spirit enables them. Typically, a theophany portends that transformation is imminent; something happening out of the ordinary marks that change is to come. But these events are no more extraordinary than the mighty acts of God of which the disciples speak, a reference to both the death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as to their experience of Jesus revealed to them as Messiah and Son of God. God’s revelation and God’s activity are indeed extraordinary, and call us all to open ourselves to transformation.
God renews us, every single day. That is what it means to be alive: ongoing renewal through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We have different kinds of spiritual gifts, as Paul tells the Corinthians, yet in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, that we might work for the benefit of our community and of our world. The Spirit that works in each of us embodies God’s activity, renewing us all as God renews the face of the earth. May we too be filled with the Holy Spirit, changed, transformed, that we might bring that Spirit to our world.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. (Note: Because this class took place in 2020, only one Mass was live-streamed and so Fr. Pat only preached on one set of readings, rather than the full set of Vigil and Sunday readings. You can access the entire set of Vigil readings here.)
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