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Sunday Scripture Study

Pentecost Sunday - Cycle B

May 27, 2012

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Opening Prayer

First Reading: Acts 2:1-11

Psalm: 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

Gospel Reading: John 20:19-23

This Sunday’s Gospel is a reading that we just heard on the 2nd Sunday of Easter. For this Pentecost Sunday, therefore, we will instead be looking at the First Reading for this Sunday, taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

The setting is at Jerusalem in the upper room where the Last Supper had been held. It is 10 days after the Ascension, at which time Jesus had left them specific instructions (Acts 1:45). About 120 people, including Mary, were present. It is the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks (in Hebrew, Shavout), was one of three major Jewish pilgrim feasts, celebrated seven weeks after Passover (Deuteronomy 16:16). Devout Jews from all over the known world would be in Jerusalem for these two feasts (verses 9-11). Originally a harvest festival where God’s people would offer him the first fruits (best part) of the harvest, it came to be also a commemoration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai on the fiftieth day after the Exodus from Egypt (from the Greek Petekoste, meaning “fiftieth”).

Christians now celebrate Pentecost as the “birthday” of the Church, and a celebration of the giving of the New Law of the Spirit written on the hearts of believers (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 2 Corinthians 3:4-6) as was promised to the Apostles by Our Lord (John 15:26;16:13; 20:22, Luke 24:49).

QUESTIONS:

In the 2^nd Reading, if the “Body of Christ” is not simply a metaphor, what is it? (see 1 Corinthians 10:17; CCC 790) What does the Holy Spirit do in the Body? (see CCC 797) How does union with Christ affect social and ethnic differences? (see Galatians 3:28; CCC 1267)

What was the original meaning of the Feast of Pentecost for Jews (Deuteronomy 16:9-10)? What theological significance did they add to this feast? Why do you think God chose the Jewish Feast of Pentecost to give the Holy Spirit to the Church? What is the meaning of Pentecost for Christians (Acts 2:32-33; CCC 715)?

How far have these pilgrims come (verses 9-11)? What attracts them to the disciples? Would you respond more like those in verse 12 or those in verse 13? Why?

When have you experienced an empowering from God to witness about Christ? How does being filled with the Spirit relate to bearing witness about Christ?

Have you ever had a strong religious conversion experience? If so, how did your behavior change, and what did your family and friends think about it? What did you think about it?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 687-690, 730, 733-741, 1695

We do not exist in order to pursue just any happiness. We have been called to penetrate the intimacy of God's own life, to know and love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and to love also--in that same love of the one God in three divine Persons--the angels and all men. --St. Josemaria Escriva

We Live in a War-Zone!

Pastor’s Column

Pentecost Sunday

May 27, 2012

The second reading for Pentecost Sunday is so important for our spiritual discernment that I want to reprint some of it for our continued reflection—you might want to stick this on the refrigerator! (Galatians 5: 16-25—Jerusalem Bible):

“If you are guided by the Spirit, you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions….When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious:

Impurity

Lust

Idolatry

Sorcery

Outbursts of fury

Jealousy

Acts of selfishness

Dissentions

Factions

Drinking bouts

Orgies and the like.

I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different:

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Goodness

Kindness

Gentleness

Self-control

…You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit’s lead.”

Brothers and sisters, we live in a spiritual war-zone. Each of us is in fact on the front lines of the battle, with the enemy of our souls tempting us on one side and the Lord and his armies on the other. The battle rages both within and around us! In this Sunday’s second reading from Galatians , Saint Paul gives us this checklist to help us discern whose side of the battle we are fighting on: am I standing in the territory of the enemy at this moment, in this decision, or am I a force for good in the power of the Holy Spirit?

Even Saint Paul acknowledged that none of us wins every battle. This is why we rely on the mercy of Christ, who forgives our sins. Many people don’t even realize that life is really a spiritual battle zone! Whether we realize it or not, every decision and action of ours will bear fruit ultimately on the side of self-indulgence, or on the side of the Holy Spirit. Selfishness, angry outbursts, impurity, impatience… none of this comes from the Holy Spirit! When we see these types of fruits being manifested in our lives, it means that something needs to be corrected in our spiritual life.

This is exactly why Saint Paul gives us these two lists, because we need a constant reminder to help us discern regularly whose side we are fighting on, God’s or his enemy! The fruits of our decisions and actions will tell the real story. In order to see this, however, we will want to become more spiritually aware by examining our lives and actual decisions on a daily basis.

In many ways each church, like Saint Eds, is on the front lines of a kind of spiritual battle for souls that is taking place throughout the world. We come to mass and participate in other activities here in order to be nourished in our faith, fed by the Eucharist and the other sacraments, strengthened by our fellowship with others, and to give to our neighbor of what we have by our presence and by our gifts, sacrifices and finances.

Sometimes we let Christ in through the front door (by praying, coming to church or doing good works, for example), but at the same time, we open a window and let the enemy in too (watching pornography and impurity in the media and internet and self-centered behaviors at home, school and work, for example).

The question to ask ourselves is this: if I am continually falling in certain areas of self-indulgence, am I really at war with these sinful choices? What must I do to overcome them? Am I really avoiding the situations that cause me to fall into sin? Am I making a good confession on a regular basis? Is any form of fasting (food, media) a part of my regime? Do I really make God and prayer a priority in my life? By following the Holy Spirit’s lead, we can already begin to live in heaven, no matter how much suffering we may be experiencing, because to live in heaven is to do the Will of God.

Fr Gary