Come, Holy Spirit!
2022년 6월 5일Come, Holy Spirit!
< Pentecost Sunday >
Learning to ride a two-wheel bicycle is one of the great milestones and memories of childhood. After learning to walk, a child takes great joy in riding a tricycle. Graduating to a bicycle with training wheels is exciting, as the prospect of soon riding with the big kids becomes real. The day arrives when the training wheels come off, and the parent takes a secondary, supportive role behind the bike. After a few anxious glances over the shoulder, the child is reassured the parent will not permit them to fall. Then comes the moment of truth when the parent lets go and the child realizes they have the balance needed to ride.
The Ascension of the Lord is like the parent letting us go on our own. Without Jesus we wobble and falter for awhile but then comes the great realization we have been given the balance needed to grow into adulthood in the faith. Even an occasional fall once in awhile only serves to reinforce our determination to be an independent adult. Today we have the great solemnity of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire upon the Apostles and the Virgin Mary. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present not just with the disciples but IN the disciples. Were it not for Pentecost we would never have heard or responded to the good news that God became human in Jesus, taught us how to live by lives of loving service, how he died on the cross for our sins and rose to heaven. We have received the Holy Spirit at baptism and confirmation—and whenever we need grace to pick ourselves up and start anew. Pentecost is an on-going mystery, as God continues to send the Holy Spirit to us at every Eucharist. Through the Holy Spirit we commemorate Christmas, we celebrate Easter, but we participate in Pentecost.