SYNOPSIS: HOMILY ON THE ASCENSION [C] LUKE 24: 46-53

Introduction: Today’s readings describe the ascension of the Lord Jesus into his heavenly glory after he had promised to send the Holy Spirit  as the source of heavenly power for his disciples and commanded them to bear witness to him through their lives and preaching throughout the world.  But the ascended Jesus is still with us because of His promise, "I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”  He is with us at all times and in all places, releasing a new energy upon the earth, the energy of the Holy Spirit. 

The scripture lessons:  The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the scene of Jesus’ ascension, his promise of the Holy Spirit, his instruction to the apostles to wait at Jerusalem for the power from above and his missionary command to his apostles to bear witness to him. Today's psalm suggests that by his Ascension, the risen Lord "mounts his throne" in glory.  In the second reading, Paul teaches us that God revealed His might in the resurrection and ascension of Christ and in his exaltation over all angelic forces.  He remains accessible to us now in the life-giving Holy Spirit, assuring us that one day we, too, will be ascending to heavenly glory, provided that, with His grace, we live out our  faith in Him through the mission  of loving service He entrusts to us. Today’s gospel tells us that, with his return to the Father, Jesus completes his mission on earth.  But just before his Ascension he entrusted to his disciples the mission of preaching the good news and evangelizing the whole world by witnessing to him through their lives. In the descriptions of Christ after his resurrection, we are given a hint of what life will be like in heaven.  But it is in his Ascension that we see him entering fully into the life and glory of God.  The prospect of sharing that glory should be the driving force of our lives. 

Life messages: 1) We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer.  There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming.  We preach with words but we proclaim with our lives.  Let us ask the guidance of the Spirit of God to bear witness to Jesus by our transparent Christian lives. 2) We have a teaching mission:  Jesus taught us lessons of faith, hope, love, forgiveness, mercy, and salvation by his life and preaching and gave us the same mission to teach others.   Hence, let us learn about Jesus and his teachings through our daily study of the Bible and the teachings of the Church, experience him in personal prayer, our reception of the sacraments and our works of charity, and convey to others Jesus whom we experience with the help of his Holy Spirit. 3) We need Jesus as our source of strength and encouragement in doing His will: We will be able to overcome doubts about our faith and baseless fears,  anxiety and worries by meditating on Jesus’ Ascension and the lesson it teaches that we too are called to share his glory in heaven.  

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Anecdote # 1: The disciples who completed Puccini’s opera Turandot.  The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wrote La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Tosca.  It was during his battle with terminal cancer in 1922 that he began to write Turandot, which many now consider his best work. He worked on the score day and night, despite his friends' advice to rest, and to save his energy. When his sickness worsened, Puccini said to his disciples, "'If I don't finish Turandot, I want you to finish it." He died in 1924, leaving the work unfinished. His disciples gathered all that was written of Turandot, studied it in great detail, and then proceeded to write the remainder of the opera. The world premier was performed in La Scala Opera House in Milan in 1926, and Toscanini, Puccini’s favorite student, conducted it. The opera went beautifully, until Toscanini came to the end of the part written by Puccini. He stopped the music, put down the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, "Thus far the master wrote, but he died." There was a long pause; no one moved. Then Toscanini picked up the baton, turned to the audience and, with tears in his eyes, announced, "But his disciples finished his work." The opera closed to thunderous applause, and to a permanent place in the annals of great works. Jesus instructs us in his Ascension message to finish his work of saving mankind by proclaiming His good news by words and deeds.
# 2: "I have no other plan -- it must work." A beautiful old story tells of how Jesus, after his Ascension into Heaven, was surrounded by the Holy Angels who began to enquire about his work on earth.  Jesus told them about His birth, life, preaching, death and resurrection, and how he had accomplished the salvation of the world.  The angel Gabriel asked, “Well, now that you are back in Heaven, who will continue your work on earth?"  Jesus said, "While I was on earth, I gathered a group of people around me who believed in me and loved me.   They will continue to spread the Gospel and carry on the work of the Church.” Gabriel was perplexed.  "You mean Peter, who denied you thrice and all the rest who ran away when you were crucified?  You mean to tell us that you left them to carry on your work? And what will you do if this plan doesn't work?"  Jesus said, "I have no other plan -- it must work." Truly, Jesus has no other plan than to depend on the efforts of his followers!  

# 3: Solar Power: One of the national coordinators of Sun Day held early in May every year is Denis Hayes. He worked as researcher at a Washington D.C. ‘think-tank’ and has written a book on solar energy entitled Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum World. Hayes claims that we are at the crossroads of making a critical choice for mankind – the choice between going solar or going nuclear for a power source. Hayes opts for the sun because it is “the world’s only inexhaustible, predictable, egalitarian, non-polluting, safe, terrorist-resistant and free energy source.” We’ve already learned to use the power of the sun to grow food, make wine and operate greenhouses. All we need to do is develop better technology to harness solar energy to heat houses, drive our cars and run our industry. People like Hayes are looking at the sky with its sun as the main source of our future energy supply. Today we turn our attention to the sky for another reason – to commemorate our Lord’s Ascension into heaven. In the first reading, from Acts, Jesus makes a promise: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you.” That Spirit is the power source that can give all the energy we need to live our lives to the full (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds).

 

Introduction:  Today’s readings describe the ascension of the Lord Jesus into his heavenly glory after he had promised to send the Holy Spirit as the source of heavenly power for his disciples and commanded them to bear witness to him through their lives and preaching throughout the world.  What we celebrate today is Jesus’ exaltation and the end of his earthly existence, as a prelude to the gift of the Spirit.  The ascended Jesus is still with us because of his promise, "I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”  He is with us at all times and in all places, releasing a new energy upon the earth, the energy of the Holy Spirit Who enables us to preach his Good News of salvation and to bear witness to him in living out His word.  Hence, today’s feast is the celebration of Jesus’ glory after his suffering and death – the glory in which we also hope to share.  The Ascension and Pentecost, together, mark the beginning of the Church.  The feast of the Ascension tells us that the church must be a community in mission, guided by God’s Spirit and confident of God’s protection even amid suffering and death. 

The first reading (Acts 1: 1-11), gives an account of the event of the Ascension as recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. First, Jesus instructed his apostles to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism by the Holy Spirit so that they might become his “witnesses to the ends of the earth” by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then a cloud took Jesus from the sight of the disciples and two heavenly messengers in white garments gave them the assurance of Jesus’ return in glory.  Today's Psalm response, "God mounts His throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord," with the Psalm it accompanies (Psalm 47), celebrates God's universal kingship. The Psalm was originally sung in connection with a cultic procession honoring the Ark of the Covenant. By his Ascension, the risen Lord likewise "mounts his throne" in glory. 

The second reading (Eph 1: 17-23; alternate Hebrews 9: 24-28; 10: 19-23): In Ephesians, Paul explains the theological meaning of Jesus’ exaltation by saying, "May God enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we may know the great hope to which we have been called."  Our great hope is that one day we too will be ascending to heavenly glory, provided that, with His grace, we live out our faith in Him through the mission of loving service He entrusts to us Our mission is to preach the good news of salvation to the whole world by word and deed. We continue to receive the divine assistance and spiritual gifts necessary for our Christian witnessing through the Holy Spirit Whom the risen Jesus, after his ascension, asked the Father to send on his Church.  Today’s gospel tells us that, with his return to the Father, Jesus completes his mission on earth.  In the descriptions of Christ after his resurrection, we are given a hint of what life will be like in heaven.   But it is in his Ascension that we see him entering fully into the life and glory of God.  The prospect of sharing that glory should be the driving force of our lives. 

Exegetical notes: A) The ascension: Each Sunday we profess through the Creed, "He ascended into heaven."  Christ’s Ascension was the culmination of God’s divine plan for Christ Jesus – his return to his Father with his “Mission Accomplished."  Ascension is the grand finale of all his words and of the works He has done for us and for our salvation.  It is a culmination, but not the conclusion.  As he is now with God in glory, he is now with us in Spirit: "Lo, I am with you always." The feast of the Ascension celebrates one aspect of the resurrection, namely Jesus’ exaltation.  He did not wait 40 days to be glorified at God’s right hand. That had already happened at his resurrection.  The focus of this feast is the heavenly reign of Christ.  The Lord is now "seated at the right hand of the Father" as we profess in the Nicene Creed, meaning He alone is in control of the continuing plan of salvation through the Spirit, unrestricted by time, space or culture.  Thus in the Paschal Mystery, Jesus' passion, death, resurrection, ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit form one unbroken reality which is to be understood by faith. The Ascension means that Jesus, His salvific suffering for our Salvation completed, is with his Father in glory.

B) The Ascension account: The Biblical accounts of the Ascension focus not so much on the details of the event as on the mission Jesus gave to his disciples.  For example, in the accounts narrated in Luke and Acts, the Ascension took place in Jerusalem.  In Matthew and Mark, on the other hand, the event occurred in Galilee.  All accounts, however, agree that the Ascension took place on a mountain.  In Luke and Acts, the Ascension happened forty days after the Resurrection, a period during which Jesus appeared repeatedly to his followers.  In Matthew and Mark there is no indication of the time period between the Resurrection and the Ascension.  The gospel writers apparently were not aiming at accuracy of historical detail but were more concerned with transmitting Our Lord’s message. 

C) The ascension message: "Preach the good news and be my witnesses:" 

Matthew, Mark and Acts record Jesus’ last words differently: 1) “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  2) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).  3) “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark.16:15).  All are in agreement that (a) Jesus gave his disciples a mission of bearing witness to him by preaching and living the good news.  They are to tell and re-tell the story of Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection.  (b) He assured them of the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit in the carrying out of this mission. 

D) Christmas and Ascension: The Ascension is most closely related, in meaning, to Christmas.  In Jesus, the human and the divine become united in the person and life of one man.  That's Christmas.  At the Ascension, this human being – the person and the resurrected body of Jesus – became for all eternity a part of who God is.  It was not the spirit of Jesus or the divine nature of Jesus that ascended to the Father.  It was the resurrected body of Jesus: a body that the disciples had touched, a body that had eaten and drunk with them both before and after His Resurrection, a real, physical, but gloriously restored body, bearing the marks of nails and a spear.  This is what ascended.  This is what, now and forever, is a living, participating part of God. The Ascension, along with the Incarnation, is here to tell us that it is a good thing to be a human being; indeed it is a wonderful and an important and a holy thing to be a human being.  It is such an important thing that God did it.  Even more, the fullness of God now includes what it means to be a human being. 

Life messages: 1) We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: In today's gospel, Jesus gives his mission to all the believers: "Go out to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” This mission is not given to a select few but to all believers. To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming. “We preach with words but we proclaim with our lives.” As we celebrate the Lord’s return to His Father in heaven – His Ascension -- we are being commissioned to go forth and proclaim the Gospel of life and love, of hope and peace, by the witness of our lives. On this day of hope, encouragement and commissioning, let us renew our commitment to be true disciples everywhere we go, beginning with our family and our parish, "living in a manner worthy of the call [we] have received.”

2) We need to live a life of Christian joy in the presence of the ascended Lord. According to Luke, the disciples "returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Apparently Jesus' exaltation and final blessing gave them, as it gives us, the assurance that, though absent, he is still present, present even in the pain and sorrow we undergo. That is why St. Augustine assures us, “Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' and when he said: 'I was hungry and you gave me food.' While in heaven he is also with us; and while on earth we are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love."

3) We have a teaching mission:  Jesus taught us lessons of faith, hope, forgiveness, mercy, redemption and love.  We cannot put these lessons on a shelf and ignore them.  They stand before us in the person of Jesus.  Although no longer visibly present in the world, He is present in his words. We must make his words real in our lives and in the lives of others. Christianity was meant to be a faith in which Jesus’ followers would help and care for others, just as Jesus had done.   But the spreading of the Good News to all nations is not a goal that can be attained by human might and craft.  This is why Jesus promises to empower his messengers with His abiding presence and that of the Holy Spirit.   The challenge of sharing the Good News with all mankind should, therefore, begin with our admission that we have often been arrogant and overbearing.  We must learn to be humble and let the Holy Spirit lead the way. 

4) The ascended Jesus is our source of strength and encouragement: Perhaps some of the nagging doubts which inevitably accompany the journey of faith could be lessened by our meditating on the Ascension and its implications. When we are too far from faith to pray on our own, let us remember that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, praying for us. When the trials of life feel too heavy to bear, we must remember that Christ will come again in glory, the same glory in which he arose from the tomb, the same glory in which he ascended, and the same glory in which he currently abides. Though our limited perception might find him absent, he is fully present, participating in every moment of our lives. By His ascension, Christ has not deserted us but has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to enter all times and places. In this way it is possible for each of us to be transformed by the power of the Spirit into agents or instruments of Christ. We become enlivened, and our actions become animated in a new way by the Spirit of the God we love and serve. We have become Christs in the world.

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Synopsis of the Homily on Pentecost 

Pentecost literally means 50th. It is a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Christians. The Jewish Pentecost was originally a post-harvest thanksgiving feast.  Later it was celebrated to remember God’s covenants with Noah after the Deluge and with Moses at Mt. Sinai

The event: On the day of Pentecost 1) The Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Blessed Virgin Mary as fiery tongues. 2) The frightened Apostles were transformed into fiery preachers and evangelizers by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. 3) The audience experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues, hearing Peter speaking in their languages. 4) The early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for the faith.

The role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life: 1) As an indwelling God, He makes us His Living Temples (I Cor 3:16). 2) As a strengthening God, He strengthens us in our fight against temptations and in our mission of bearing witness to Christ by leading transparent Christian lives. 3) As a sanctifying God, He makes us holy through the Sacraments: a) He makes us children of God and heirs of heaven through Baptism. b) He makes us temples of God, warriors and defenders of faith, through Confirmation. c) He enables us to be reconciled to God by pardoning our sins through Reconciliation. d) He gives us spiritual nourishment via the Holy Eucharist by converting bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood through Epiclesis. 4) As a teaching and guiding God, He clarifies and constantly reminds us of Christ’s teachings. 5) As a listening and talking God, He listens to our prayers and enables us to pray, and He speaks to us through the Bible. 6) As a giver of gifts, He gives us His gifts, fruits and charisms.

Life messages: We need to permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives: 

1) By constantly remembering His holy presence, and behaving well. 

2) By praying for His daily anointing so that we may fight against our temptations and control our evil tendencies, evil habits and addictions.  

3) By asking His daily assistance to pray well, listening to God through meditative reading of the Bible and talking to Him. 

4) By asking the help of the Holy Spirit for ourselves, that we may do good to others and  be reconciled to God and others every day.  

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Anecdote #2: “Lower your bucket-- taste and see”: More than a century ago, a great sailing ship was stranded off the coast of South America.  Week after week the ship lay there in the still waters with not a hint of a breeze.  The captain was desperate; the crew was dying of thirst.  And then, on the far horizon, a steamship appeared, heading directly toward them.  As it drew near, the captain called out, "We need water!  Give us water!"  The steamship replied, "Lower your buckets where you are."  The captain was furious at this cavalier response but called out again, "Please, give us water."  But the steamer gave the same reply, "Lower your buckets where you are!"  And with that they sailed away!  The captain was beside himself with anger and despair, and he went below.  But a little later, when no one was looking, a yeoman lowered a bucket into the sea and then tasted what he brought up: It was perfectly sweet, fresh water!  For you see, the ship was just out of sight of the mouth of the Amazon.  And for all those weeks they had been sitting right on top of all the fresh water they needed!  What we are really seeking is already inside us, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be embraced: the Holy Spirit of God who has been living within us from the moment of our Baptism.  The Holy Spirit is saying to us at this very moment, "Lower your buckets where you are.  Taste and see!" from deep in our heart:  Come, Holy Spirit!  Fill our hearts, and set us on fire!  Amen.

Introduction: The Jewish Pentecost: Both the Jews and the Christians now celebrate Pentecost.  Along with the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost was one of the major feasts of the Jews.  During these three great Jewish festivals, every male Jew living within twenty miles of Jerusalem was legally bound to go to Jerusalem to participate in the feast.  The word Pentecost is Greek for pentecostes which means “fiftieth.” The feast received this name because it was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of the Passover.  Another name for the Jewish Pentecost is Shebuot or "The Feast of Weeks."  It was originally a day of thanksgiving celebrated seven weeks (a Sabbath of Sabbaths), after the beginning of the harvesting for the completion of the harvest.  During Passover, the first omer (a Hebrew measure of about a bushel), of barley was offered to God.  At Pentecost, two loaves of bread were offered in gratitude for the harvest.  Later, the Jews added to the Feast of Pentecost the element of Yahweh’s covenant with Noah, which was made fifty days after the great deluge.  Still later, this feast  became an occasion to thank God for His Sinaitic covenant with Moses, which occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt. 

The Christian Pentecost: Pentecost marks the end and the goal of the Easter season.  For Christians, it is a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that took place fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus.  The Paschal mystery of the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus is completed in the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father at the request of the Son upon his disciples. The feast also commemorates the official inauguration of the Christian Church by St. Peter’s apostolic preaching, which resulted in the conversion of 3000 Jews to the Christian faith that very day.  Pentecost is thus the official birthday of the Church. But This Rock Magazine reports that there are now 34,000 Protestant denominations which means that, on the average, more than sixty-nine new denominations have sprung up every year since the beginning of the Reformation in 1517.  So whose birthday is it anyway?  You could say, "Pentecost is the birthday of the Church Jesus established nearly 2,000 years ago." Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is an event of both the past and the present.  The main theme of today’s readings is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is something to be shared with others.  That is, the readings remind us that the gift of the Holy Spirit moves its recipients to action and inspires them to share this gift with others. 

The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11), describes in detail the miraculous transformation that took place during the first Christian Pentecost, thus fulfilling Jesus’ promise to his Apostles.   There was first “a noise like a strong, driving wind.”  Then there were “tongues as of fire” resting on the disciples, and each of them was filled with the Holy Spirit.  The first manifestation of their reception of the Holy Spirit came when the Apostles rushed out to the street and began to proclaim the good news of Jesus, and everyone there (regardless of their many different native languages), was able to understand them “in his own tongue.”  The Jews in the crowds came from sixteen different geographical regions.  The miracle of tongues on Pentecost thus reverses the confusion of tongues wrought by God at the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11.  Later, the Acts of the Apostles describes how the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians to bear witness to Christ by their sharing love and strong faith.  This "anointing by the Holy Spirit” also strengthened the early Christian martyrs during the period of brutal persecution that followed.  

In the second reading (I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13), St. Paul explains how the sharing of the various spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit enriches the Church.  He refers to the varieties of gifts given to the Church as coming from the same Spirit who activates all of them in Christians for the common good.  They are described as the gifts, fruits and charisms of the Spirit.  They may take different forms like prophecy, teaching, administration, acts of charity, healing and speaking in tongues, and they may reside in different persons like Apostles, prophets, teachers, healers and so on.  Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians “What the Spirit brings is … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (5:22).  He continues, “Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit” (5:25).  Paul insists that these spiritual gifts are to be used in the present time for the benefit of others, for the common good and for the building up of the body of Christ.

Today’s gospel relates how the risen Jesus gave his Apostles a foretaste of Pentecost on the evening of Easter Sunday by appearing to them  and entrusting to them the continuance of the mission given him by his heavenly Father.  He then empowered them to do so  by breathing upon them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  On the day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise to send the Advocate or Paraclete. The gift of the Spirit would also enable them to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the gospel to all nations.  Today’s gospel passage tells us how Jesus, at the same time on that first Easter Sunday, gave to the Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins.  “Receive the Holy Spirit.  For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”  These wonderful words which bind together inseparably the presence of the Holy Spirit and the gift of forgiveness are referred to directly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  But they have a much wider meaning.  Those words indicate the responsibility we are all given of being the agents of forgiveness in the world of today, which is often fiercely judgmental and vengeful.  

Exegetical notes: Role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and of the Church: How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives within us!  Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).  It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with God.  "God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Gal 4:6).  "God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:3).  Moreover, we know that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26).  By the power of the Spirit, we also know the Lord Jesus through his Church.  Pentecost Sunday is the birth date of the Church.  It is the Holy Spirit who enlivens, enlightens, guides, and sanctifies the Church. The Psalm refrain for this Sunday says it so well: “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.”  We know Jesus through the Sacramental Mysteries of the Church, and Holy Spirit is at the heart of the sacramental life of the Church.  Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders are the Sacramental Mysteries through which people receive the seal of the Holy Spirit.  It would be impossible for us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist without the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy.  Even the forgiveness of sins comes through the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-23).  The Holy Spirit both confirmed the Apostles in Holy Orders as priests and empowered them to forgive sins by His power, a work which He continues today in each of our priests. 

Life messages:  1) We need to permit the Holy Spirit to direct our lives:  a) By constantly remembering and appreciating His Holy Presence within us, especially through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.  b) By fortifying ourselves with the help of the Spirit against all types of temptations. c) By seeking the assistance of the Spirit in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and in the breaking of our evil habits.  d) By listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible and through the good counsel of others e) By fervently praying for the gifts, fruits and charisms of the Holy Spirit. f) By asking the Holy Spirit to renew our lives through a fresh anointing. g) By living our lives in the Holy Spirit, with His help, as lives of commitment, of sacrifice, and of joy.  We are called to love as Jesus loved, not counting the cost. As Saint Paul exhorts us, "Walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, 25). 

2) We need to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness.  The feast of the Pentecost offers us the chance of looking at the role which forgiveness should play in our dealings with others.  Thus, we are challenged to examine our sense of compassion, our patience, tolerance and magnanimity.  Learning to forgive is a lifelong task, but the Holy Spirit is with us to make us agents of forgiveness.  If we are prepared on this day of Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, we can have confidence that our lives will be marked by the Spirit of forgiveness. 

3) We need to observe Pentecost every day.  "It will always be Pentecost in the church," affirmed Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, on Pentecost Sunday 1978, "provided the church lets the beauty of the Holy Spirit shine forth from her countenance.  When the church ceases to let her strength rest on the power from above which Christ promised her and which he gave her on that day, and when the church leans rather on the weak forces of the power or wealth of this earth, then the church ceases to be newsworthy.  The church will be fair to see, perennially young, attractive in every age, as long as she is faithful to the Spirit that floods her and she reflects that Spirit through her communities, through her pastors, through her very life." [The Violence of Love, (Farmington, PA:  The Plough Pub. Co., 1998).] Archbishop Romero’s declaration reminds us -- as does today’s Gospel -- that Pentecost is not just one day, but every day.  Without breath, there is no life.  Without the Spirit, the Church is a field of dry, dead bones.  Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church, "Even though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like God's frozen people--frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our faith."  Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love.  Let us repeat Cardinal Newman’s favorite little prayer, “Come Holy Spirit:”

“Come Holy Spirit 

Make our ears to hear 

Make our eyes to see 

Make our mouths to speak 

Make our hearts to seek 

Make our hands to reach out 

And touch the world with your love.  AMEN.”

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Prepared by Fr. Antony Kadavil (akadavil@gmail.com) and published in the CBCI website by the Office for Social Communications. You may contact akadavil@gmail.com for weekday homilies, and a dozen more additional anecdotes.

SYNOPSIS: HOMILY ON THE ASCENSION [C] (May 12) LUKE 24: 46-53

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Prepared by Fr. Antony Kadavil (akadavil@gmail.com) and published in the CBCI website by the Office for Social Communications. You may contact akadavil@gmail.com for weekday homilies, and a dozen more additional anecdotes.