Experience Pentecost - Reflection Pentecost Sunday A

Everyone needs to experience Pentecost. Everyone should experience the coming of God’s spirit in your own particular way.

I had a man ask me when I was much younger, “Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit?”

I was young at that time, so I didn’t know the answer. Instead, I said “I didn’t know if I had, had he?”

He said “Yes! The Holy Spirit is alive in my Church, you should come.”

I asked him then, “What it’s like to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit? How do you know?”

His answer “Our preacher can see the Spirit in you. He calls you forward and in front of the entire congregation lays hands upon you. You can hear the Holy Spirit Coming. It begins in a whisper and becomes a mighty wind.”

He continued, “I lose all control, fall to the ground, and speak in tongues.”

I’m telling you this story not to condemn him or his church. He shared with me his full gospel charismatic experience.

Don’t think it is not true because, scripture tells us, "No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."

I was 26 years old and that story scared me.

Being told of his experience, I wondered about Pentecost; had I known the fulfillment Christ's promise in experiencing the Holy Spirit. Did I fall short?

As I have grown in my faith and my relationship to God through Christ Jesus, I have realized one thing, “God is Love.”

Our God by his love makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance. The same risen Christ who said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

I can answer that question now, “Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit?” I can answer with, "God is Love."

God is Love and love is His gift. It is His love that is His grace. It is love that contains all His gifts. The gift of God's love is poured into us and our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The gift of God’s love is forgiveness. As Catholic Christians, we believe it is our communion in the Holy Spirit that restores the baptized to grace as adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

Each of us is filled with God’s Love; by this love, each of us can know the Holy Spirit. So my brothers and sisters, when asked have you been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, say yes!!!

Because, it’s not necessarily speaking in tongues that show we experience the Holy Spirit. It’s speaking in God’s love and God’s love that fills us with the Holy Spirit.  

Everyone should experience the coming of God’s spirit in your own particular way. Here is the truth from the scripture. There were people from every nation under heaven and each one heard them speaking in his own language. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in the language we need to hear, different working but the same God. 

The Holy Spirit is not generic. The Holy Spirit is not a one-size-fits-all force; but it’s a relationship, individual and specific to each one of us.

The Holy Spirit comes inimitably as our comfort in struggles. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Heal our wounds our strength renew.

The Catechism gives us this beautiful teaching; if we do not know how to pray as we should, the Spirit for us intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

Our Heavenly Father who loves us sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. When God sends his Son, He sends his Spirit. No one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

Experience the Pentecost. Proclaim the Holy Spirit. Proclaim Jesus is Lord. Proclaim God’s love.

Y’all be good, Y’all be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.