Pentecost Sunday - Cycle A

“He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” - John 20: 22

The Greek word used in the bible for the Holy Spirit is pneuma. Pneuma refers to the movement of air and we get words like pneumonia and pneumatic from it. Pneuma is usually translated as wind or spirit. A deeper meaning for pneuma is breath. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Breath of God. Jesus is known as the Logos, which is commonly translated as the Word of God. Logos also has a much deeper meaning which is the true essence of something. Jesus is the visible essence of the invisible God. God the Father used his Holy Breath to say one Word, which was Jesus. Through him everything was created.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” This is an action we see only twice in the bible. The first time is in the book of Genesis when God breathed life into the nostrils of Adam during his creation. The second is when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into his Disciples, giving birth to the Church. Although the Disciples received the Holy Spirit at this time, it did not manifest itself until it came upon them at Pentecost, which we regard as the birthday of the Church.

Like the Disciples, we each receive the Holy Spirit at our baptisms. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit at our confirmations. There are seven gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, which are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. These gifts provide us supernatural help to grow in holiness. They serve to increase and strengthen the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and the three supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity within us. Charity unlocks the power of these seven gifts, but the gifts lie dormant in the soul until we choose to accept and use them.

The proper exercise of the gifts, in conjunction with the virtues, produces the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. These fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. The more we can incorporate the gifts and virtues into our lives the greater these fruits will be. The greater these fruits are within us the closer we become to the image of the one we were created in. That is our goal in this life; to recover the image and likeness we were created in that was lost due to the distrust of our first parents.

Today, as we celebrate the birthday of the Church, let us call upon the Holy Spirit to continually inspire and guide us to always be a holy people, dear to the Lord’s heart.

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.”