I think the seeds, as well as the need for today’s feast of Pentecost were planted last
week in our hearts and minds in two of our readings.
SO, two words, two thoughts, two things to pay attention to coming from these two readings of last week. See if you can pick out the two words that should be of importance to us, before I tell you what they are. . .
First: from the Acts of the Apostles:
Jesus told his disciples: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem.”
Then from the Gospel of Luke we heard:
Again, Jesus speaking: “You are witnesses of these things. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” So, what are the two words, the two thoughts,
the two things we should pay special attention to? POWER & WITNESS, two things that are connected and related, two things that this feast of Pentecost continues to teach us about. Two things that we need to have in order to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. . .
Let’s start with power. When I googled “what is the definition of power”, I found it refers to the ability to exert, influence, control, or produce energy. Power can also be understood as the capacity to influence others, So power is a force, that produces energy and has an effect on other things. So, we have waterpower, solar power, electrical power, gas power, nuclear power, all that have an effect on other things, our appliances, our cars, our homes and businesses. . . All of these types of power have the ability to exert, influence, control, or produce energy. But the power that Jesus is talking about, and the power we need to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
The power we need to produce energy to influence others. The power, the force, we need, in order to have an effect on other things, Is the power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus describes this power, this third person of the Holy Trinity as:
- The promise of the Father.
- A helper or Advocate.
- A comforter
- A protector
- A divine presence which is the source of truth and guidance.
And throughout the Gospels, Jesus emphasizes the Holy Spirit’s role in guiding, speaking, hearing, disclosing, and glorifying both the Father and Jesus.
Jesus also highlights the Spirit’s ability to teach, remind, dwell within believers, testify and convict.
In every Eucharistic prayer, such as in the first prayer for Reconciliation that we will use
today , but in every Eucharistic prayer in some form or another, we call down the power of the Holy Spirit , two times.
The first is always pretty easy to pick up on and the most obvious of the two. It is when we call down the power of the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. So today, we will hear: Look, we pray, upon your people’s offerings and pour out on them the POWER of your Spirit, that they may become the Body and Blood of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we, too, are your sons and daughters. This power, this force, this Holy Spirit has an effect on bread and wine, it changes them into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, powerful stuff. . .
But then, in usually a more subtle way, we call down this same force upon ourselves: Again, today, we will hear: Look kindly, most compassionate God on those you unite to yourself by the Sacrifice of your Son, and grant that, by the POWER of the Holy Spirit, as we partake of this one Bread and one Chalice, we may be gathered into one Body in Christ, who heals every division.
Another example from Eucharistic prayer three:
Grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son, and filled with his
Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ. . .
Or perhaps most obvious in this Eucharistic prayer from the Italian Missal:
“God, let your Holy Spirit move in power over us and over our earthly gifts of bread and wine.” See we believe that the same power or force, this same Holy Spirit that is powerful enough to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, is also powerful enough to change us, so that we can go forth from this place all united in the same mission, which is the second word, thought or thing coming from our readings last week that we are supposed to pay attention to, so that we can go forth from this place all united in the same mission: to be a WITNESS, of what we have seen, heard, and experienced in this place.
So, the power of the Holy Spirit changes bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ so that we who receive it can also be changed. Since we have received the Eucharist, and now carry Christ within us, we go out, and by our words and actions, tell other people what we have seen and heard and experienced: we are sent to be WITNESSES of the power of God’s love and mercy.
POWER AND WITNESS, we need the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can become
the witnesses that we are called to be, so that we can change the world.
POWER AND WITNESS, that is what this feast of Pentecost is about.
POWER & WITNESS & HOPE, because with God’s help, we can make the world a little
more like, the kingdom of God.
And because we need the power of the Spirit to be effective witnesses, we again pray: