Lễ Chúa Thánh Thần Hiện Xuống

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật Lễ Chúa Thánh Thần Hiện Xuống

Chúa Giêsu đã Phục Sinh từ cõi chết! Thật sự đó là tin vui tốt lành. Tuy nhiên, sự hoàn hảo vẫn còn rất xa vời trong thế giới của chúng ta. Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta nghe thấy rằng các môn đệ đã tự khóa mình trong căn phòng kín trên lầu vì sợ người Do thái. Chúa Giêsu đến ngay giữa những sự lo âu và những sợ hại của họ. Thay vì nổi giận với họ vì lòng tin yếu kém và những nỗi sợ sệt của họ, Chúa Giêsu đã ban bình an cho họ và an ủi họ trong những giây phút mà họ cảm thấy như đang cô đơn, không biết phải làm gì, họ như rắn không đầu. Mặc dù họ còn nhiều yếu kém, chưa được hoàn hảo hoàn toàn như ngài mong muốn, Nhưng Chúa Giêsu vẫn chọn họ và sai họ đi để tiếp tục sứ mệnh của Ngài, Ngài còn ban cho họ những ân sũng của Chúa Thánh Thần để an ùi và giúp họ vững tin, can đảm để rao giảng Tin Mừng và làm chứng cho sự cứu rỗi của Ngài..

Thần Khí của Thiên Chúa chọn ban phúc lành cho mỗi người chúng ta, mỗi một ân sũng và tài năng khác nhau . Tuy nhiên với mỗi Ân sũng của Chúa Thánh Thần đều có chúng một ý nghĩa đó là vì lợi ích chung và cho việc xây dựng cộng đồng dân Chúa. Chúng ta đã nhận được cùng một Chúa Thánh Thần. Chúng ta cũng được may mắn có hồng ân của Chúa ban. Chúng ta có thể có những thắc mắc, nghi ngờ hoặc thậm chí còn sợ hãi. Chúa Giêsu luôn luôn sẵn sàng đáp ứng những nhu cầu cần thiết riêng của mỗi người chúng ta trong bất cứ hoàn cảnh nào, ngay cả trong những lúc chúng ta đang gặp phải những sự bối rối, lo âu và bất an. Ngài luôn mời gọi chúng ta hãy đặt niềm tin tưởng vào nơi Chúa Thánh Thần một cách thâm sâu.

Ngày Lễ Chúa Thánh Thần Hiện Xuống này là một cơ hội giúp cho chúng ta phản ánh (suy niệm) về những đặ ơn của Chúa Thánh Thần đã và đang ban xuống cho chúng ta. Đây là một cơ hội để chúng ta cầu xin ơn Chúa Thánh Thần giúp cho chúng ta thấy rõ hơn những hồng ân mà Thiên Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta. Đấy cũng là một cơ hội để chúng ta xin Chúa Thánh Thần gíup chúng ta thêm lòng dũng cảm để chúng ta biết sử dụng những ân sũng và tài năng riêng mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta một cách trọn vẹn và vì những sự lợi ích cho người khác.

Lạy Chúa, xin giúp chúng con không bị áp lực bởi sự sợ hãi, nhưng thay vào đó, xin hướng dẫn chúng con bằng Thánh Linh của Ngài.

PENTECOST SUNDAY ( Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23 )

Jesus has Risen from the dead! This is indeed good news. Yet, the world is still far from perfect. Today, we hear that the disciples have locked themselves in a room out of fear. Jesus comes to them in the midst of their fears. Instead of being angry at them, He gives them what they need — peace. Although they are far from perfect, Jesus chooses them to continue His mission. He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit chooses to bless different people with different gifts. Every gift, however, is meant for the common good and for the building up of community.

We have received the same Holy Spirit. We too are blessed with gifts. We may have questions, doubts or even fears. Jesus willingly meets us in the midst of these. He invites us to trust deeply in the Spirit that is now with us. This solemnity of Pentecost is an opportunity to reflect. It is an opportunity to ask the Spirit to help me see more clearly the gifts God has given me. It is a chance to ask the Spirit for courage to use these gifts more fully for the good of others.

Lord, help me not to be pressured by fear, but rather, guided by Your Spirit.

PENTECOST SUNDAY

Opening Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit! Come fill my heart with your virtues, especially faith, hope, and love. Pour yourself into me so I can pour your love out to others.

Encountering Christ:

Breath of Life: Pentecost is the birthday of our mother, the Church. The Church began on this very day when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Mary. Pentecost is the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Today we hear how the Holy Spirit was breathed into the Church, making it the living body of Christ. Just as God breathed life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the body of the Church. At Pentecost, “a noise like a strong driving wind…filled the entire house in which they were” (Acts 2:2). This wind is associated with the Holy Spirit, the holy breath of God. May we be filled with the breath of life, the Holy Spirit, living and breathing life into us in each moment: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being” (Job 12:10).

Sealed with the Holy Spirit: The same Holy Spirit that the Apostles and Mary received in the upper room is the same Holy Spirit we receive in Baptism. We are sealed with this same Holy Spirit at Confirmation. The Church teaches, “by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed” (CCC 1285). God sealed us with his Spirit for a purpose: to bring his love and mercy to others. The Apostles, and through their succession priests through the ages, received God’s breath and were given the authority to forgive sins and all their priestly duties. The rest of the baptized are called to spread the faith by proclaiming the Gospel and building up Christ’s Kingdom. I can ask myself if I am living up to this call.

Divinized Vessels: At Pentecost, we can recall that “the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9). The sacraments change us; Christ himself working through them makes us divinized vessels of his presence. By his grace, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). The Catechism teaches: “As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power” (CCC 1127). We receive God’s Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. We receive his Body, Blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. How could we remain unchanged? This Spirit we have been anointed and sealed with allows us to love and serve others in his name. This love is not our own love, but God’s: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, thank you for filling me with your Holy Spirit. I am in awe that you want to share your divine life with me. Fill me with your love and life so that I am a fruitful servant. Help me to build your Kingdom using the gifts you have given me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will prayerfully consider how I have lived up to my mission to build your Kingdom, a mission which was sealed in my Confirmation. I will ask how you would like to lead me to spread and defend your Church.

My Homily Pentecost Sunday Year C (Mass during the Day):

Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103; I Cor. 12:2-3, 12-13 and John 20:19-20.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in our lives

Happy birthday, and birthdays deserve to be celebrated. They are occasions when we can be thankful for the gift of life, and for the love we have received. They provide the opportunity for families to get together and recall good memories from the past and also a chance to look to the future, aware of how far we have come. So, it is with Pentecost.

Today is the birthday of the church, a time for us to celebrate who we are and to rediscover what it means to be the people of God. Through the centuries the Holy Spirit has guided the church, despite the weaknesses of its members, both clerical and lay people. We have the witness of many generous and heroic people who have been ‘led by the Spirit’ and whose lives have given eloquent testimony to the power of God at work in them.

Today we celebrate the Pentecost, 50 days after the celebration of Easter; the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Jews celebrated this feast 50 days after the Feast of Passover; thanking God for the gift of harvest as well for His Covenant with Moses in Mount Sinai which also occurs 50 days after the beginning of the Exodus in Egypt. There have been many harvests in our lives! For us, today marks the end of the Easter Season and commemorates the day that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and on the Church. We are celebrating the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christian. We need this gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives today more than ever, in order for us to be able to function as true Christians and disciples of Jesus in evangelization without fear and intimidation, and desire for vengeance, bigotry, and division.

I remember a story that my oldest sister told me when I visited her last year. She told me that when I was a kid about my grandson’s age now, at the ages of 3 - 4. I always wanted to hold onto my mother whom I loved and depended on. I always cried and disturbed the whole neighborhood each time my mother would leave me at home with my sisters to go to the local market. Sometimes we do feel the same each time somebody we love is about to leave us. The Apostles felt the same; in the reading of the Feast of Ascension last week, the Apostles were sad when Jesus was leaving them and going up to the Father. But, Jesus promised them, He will send them the Holy Spirit. At His baptism the Spirit descended upon Jesus and called Him the beloved Son of the Father?

At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He has anointed me to bring Good news to the poor, and liberty to the captives….” (Lk: 4) It was this same Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead and enabled Him to ascend to the Father. Just as it was not easy for me when my mother would leave me home momentarily or for any us to lose a dear one. The book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us how the early Christians had frightened and coped with persecution and how difficult for the Apostle to teach and continue the mission of Jesus until they had received the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit the early church was filled with uncertainties, confusions and fears. It was the Holy Spirit that enables the Apostles to face with love and patience with the rejection they had to deal with after the ascension of Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit that enables them to be understood by people of all nations listed in today’s first reading. The Spirit of unity. We need this spirit of God. We need the gifts from the Holy Spirit, the gift of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord in order to deal with the challenges that face us today. Some of these challenges we have seen in our daily live in our own country such as division, discrimination, quarrels, pride, boasting, abusing God’s gifts and selfishness in our homes and in politics and in our communities. These are some the problems that St. Paul was addresses in the early Corinthian Church, of the 2nd reading. For Saint Paul in Baptism, we are all one body in Christ. Just as the eye cannot say I don’t need the hands or the nose, the legs or ears are not necessarily.

We need one another in Christ. Everyone is needed. All the gifts we have are important and we need our gifts to live in fullness with Christ. None of us sitting here is a chance factor before God or is not gifted with one gift or another. We are all gifted. For Saint Paul the sharing of these various spiritual gifts enriches the Church, since they all come from the same Spirit for the common good. In other words, these gifts are meant for the common good, for the community. They may reside in some of us in forms of prophecy, teaching, administration, acts of charity, healing, speaking in tongues, apostles, prophets, etc. But usually what this spirit brings should be joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22ff). This is the Spirit that Jesus breathed on the Apostles on the evening of that Easter Sunday in today’s Gospel. It is the Spirit of peace, shalom, wholeness to be agents of evangelization and forgiveness.

Today, then, let’s take heart and invoke the Spirit of God that we may be filled with a joyful appreciation of who we are and what we have to give. This brings with it many challenges, since for many religious people their faith acts as a sort of security blanket, offering certainty and security. However, the good news is not about how things were in the past but about the Spirit of God at work now and always. Happy Birthday Church!