Happy Birthday! No, it’s not my birthday… today we celebrate Pentecost, which is the birth of the Church that Jesus instituted. It’s the day we reflect on the Holy Spirit’s vital role in the birth of the Church and in our lives today.  

Last week, we heard the great prayer from Jesus to his Father asking that he and his disciples be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one. That prayer of unity is answered today, as God sent His Holy Spirit upon his Apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit and through their teaching, we the members of the Church become one with Jesus.

How much do we think about the Holy Spirit?  We know God the Father created the world, and we know God the Son became man and offered himself to save us from sin and death. The Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son and is the unity of them. Jesus said he must return to the Father so the Holy Spirit could come and dwell within us. That’s why receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation is an important and awesome gift. Through it we are reinforced with God’s infinite love and those seven spectacular gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Can you imagine being in the presence of the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came upon them? You hear this great noise and gather with people from other nations to figure out what’s going on. Then you hear these twelve men speaking in different languages, but of one subject… God… and his mighty acts. Through the Holy Spirit, these diverse people of God are one.

Think of the billions of people there are in the world. If that number is too hard to comprehend, then take a look at the people gather here today. Go ahead… look around… all of us were created by God, each with our own unique talents and gifts. These gifts and abilities all come from God and He has a purpose for every one of us, not just here on earth but in heaven as well. So those gifts and talents you use today… you will use when, God willing, you get to heaven.  

He wants us to use those spiritual gifts in two ways: to give glory and honor to Him and to help others become the best version of themselves. These gifts and talents are freely given, but if you don’t accept and use them, the work God wants you to do for Him is not done. No one else can do the work he asks you to do. We are children of God, not his hired workers. When a person leaves a company, someone else comes in to take on those tasks. But we are family…. God’s family… and you don’t replace a family member. As my brothers and sisters in Christ, I can’t do the work God has assigned to you and you can do the tasks God has assigned to me.

This is what St. Paul is describing in his letter to the people of Corinth. His letter compares the unity of the Church with the human body. Each of them has many parts and each part is critical to sustaining its life. Each has a role that only it can complete.

Do you feel like you have nothing to offer? Well, you do. You just need to find out what it is. You find out by talking to God, asking and then listening. Don’t expect the response in a strong driving wind or a tongue of fire, it will more than likely be a soft gentile breeze.  

In the creed that we will pray in a few minutes, we profess we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. The oneness we proclaim is being one with Jesus. Jesus is the head. The Church is the body, and we make up the body. The holiness comes from Jesus, not us, although there are some members of the body that are holy. As in the first reading, we saw the diversity of the people and languages, so the Church is universal or catholic. Jesus entrusted the understanding of God to the Apostles, and they handed it on through their preaching and writings to all generations until his return. That’s what we mean by apostolic.  

Jesus wants us to be one as He and the Father are one. He sent the Holy Spirit to help us become one. One with Him in the truth and not the world with its deceptions and lies. Jesus offers to us peace as he did the disciples, when he said, “Peace be with you”.  This was not a simple greeting from Jesus. It is a peace where we place our worries, anxieties, and fear at the feet of our Father. A peace that covers us with God’s love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. A peace that surpasses all understanding. A peace that comes into us through the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit where we become one with Jesus and each other.