Living with Strength and Kindliness

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost Sunday is often referred to as the ‘Birthday of the Church’. It is also better known as the birth of the Holy Spirit.

It is referred to in the Book of Acts 2. 

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly 

from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

This story creates an image of absolute mayhem. We imagine that the apostles are standing, stunned, and astounded by their ability to comprehend one another despite speaking in different tongues. 

Yet the message of the story, is awesome. This story tells us that the love espoused by Jesus is told in a universal language and that we are not actually limited by anything in our humanity and our outreach to one another.

The winds of the Holy Spirit, in this story, are an ever present symbol of God’s redemptive love. The winds are wild, free and uncontainable, just like the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus teaches us that it is through the actions of the Holy Spirit that things can be accomplished, changed and renewed. The breath of God is what makes us do more, reach beyond our grasp, tick more than the box. 

Pope Francis understands the human condition well. He knows that many of us do not want to be bothered by things because we want an easy and settled existence. We do not want disruption or surprise or sudden urgency. We do not want to be shaken into activity, especially activity which might ask us to make a stand.

He writes: ‘We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good because the Holy Spirit is God, the spirit is that wind which comes and goes, and you don't know where. The spirit is the power of God;  the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It’s so much nicer to be comfortable.’ (Pope Francis)

The Holy Spirit is the force-field for good, the compassionate acts, the urge for justice, the living out of the message of Jesus. It is ‘the wind beneath our wings, a rustling in our collective lives, a zephyr of change that denounces the predictable, sometimes inert, pattern of life. It is the gust that can unsettle and disquiet.’ (Anne Rennie)

Pentecost is not simply about us recognising how God has empowered us through the Holy Spirit to be bold and courageous. The Season of Pentecost is a season of recognising that we have been empowered to see the world around us, particularly the people in the world who are often overlooked and ignored, and to act on their behalf in ways that address the circumstances that endanger their lives and communities. After all, Jesus’ compassion for others is always sparked by a single observation, that we must make our love for one another part of a universal language, where we reach out to one another despite our differences and despite any obstacles that might stand in the way. 

What is the Holy Spirit?

It is the breath of God. 

It is love in the air. 

It is the answer, my friend, blowing in the wind. 

(Anne Rennie)

How is the Holy Spirit calling you to act with compassion this week?

Kirrilee Westblade

Catholic Identity Leader