Homily for Solemnity of Pentecost

Homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost

June 10, 1984

1 Cor 12: 3-7, 12-13
Don Bosco Tech, Paterson, N.J.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12: 7).

The Christians of Corinth were very much into charismata, the special gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Above all, they prized glossolalia, the gift of tongues.  (One almost needs that gift just to use these words.)  But those who possessed these gifts seem to have used them for divisiveness and competition rather than for unity and family spirit within the community.  So Paul has to recall to his disciples’ minds some essential Christian truths.  This morning Paul lays out 3 points:

1. Every believer has received the Spirit.

2. The Spirit gives many kinds of gifts.

3. All gifts are for the benefit of the whole community.

These teachings are, of course, timeless.  Paul could give us the same message.

We have been joined to Jesus, the paschal victim and our risen Lord, by our Baptism and Confirmation.  The link between us and him is the Holy Spirit, who pours into us the same divine life that Jesus receives from his Father.  That is why we always pray to the Father through Jesus who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit—we are that unity, we the Church militant on earth, and the Church suffering in purgatory, and the Church triumphant in heaven—all made one in Christ by the bonding of the Holy Spirit.

Every time we confess our faith in thought, word, or action, we do so by the power of the Spirit who lives within us.  The Father’s gift of the Spirit is not an extraordinary gift but the common possession of every believer.

The Spirit himself gives a variety of gifts to believers.  In many places in scripture these are outlined:  gifts of teaching, preaching, administering, speaking in tongues, healing, serving, etc.  To these we could add many other charismata bestowed abundantly on the Church:  mystical prayer, successful parenting, the missionary call, music, hospitality, ready ears, warm hearts.  Immediately after the section of First Corinthians which we are considering this morning, Paul tells the Church to strive for the greater gifts and sings his beautiful hymn on love:  “Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude”; and so on (1 Cor 13:4).

Whatever the gift, Paul says, it comes from the same one God who is our Father.  Each gift reveals his Spirit at work.  Therefore every gift is important and necessary.

Why important and necessary?  That’s the 3d point:  for the common good, for building up the body of Christ.  For each of us, this has 2 implications:  I have my own particular gift or gifts that manifest the Spirit of Jesus to others, and I must discern and exercise them; and everyone else has his or her own gift or gifts, and I must respect them.

So, if I have a gift for administration, I must use it for the good of all.  Likewise if my gift is reading the Word or watching the neighbors’ children or visiting the sick or coaching Little League or taking the elderly out shopping or bringing Christ into the public forum of politics or teaching CCD or whatever.  Naturally, it takes a lot of prayer and much practice to know what our real gifts are and what are the ones we’d like to have.

We live in a community being built up as it drinks of the one Spirit.  It will be strongly built only if we let the Spirit reign, that is, not only in ourselves but in everyone.  How, then, can we criticize a confrere or neighbor for using and developing his gifts, whether as a pastoral minister, an almsgiver, a leader in a charitable group?  How can we be jealous of someone else’s popularity if that is the tool by which the lordship of Jesus is confessed?

This responsibility of discerning the Spirit’s gifts rests on each one of us. We have to avoid the temptation to think that everything we like to do is the Spirit’s gift.  We have to put away fear of what is new or difficult and be open to the Spirit’s voice leading us to use our true gifts.  We have to respect the movements of the Spirit in every other person, though often we don’t understand those movements.

The Father has chosen each of us in Christ.  The Spirit reveals Christ and the Father to us and invites us into their relationship of love.  So may we all be encouraged.  We all confess that Jesus is Lord.  May his Spirit rule our hearts, shine through his gifts in us, and makes us one in Christ.