June 08, 2014
Pentecost Sunday
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-11
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 12:3-7, 12-13
Gospel: Jn 20:19-23
On the evening of that day, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews, but Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace be with you”; then he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy.
Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit; for those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
“Pentecost” is from the Greek word for ‘fiftieth’. It used to be called Feast of Weeks since it occurred after a week of weeks (seven sets of seven days) after the great feast of Passover. Passover is the Jewish commemoration of the day the angel of death passed over their doors marked with the blood of the lamb and spared the lives of their first born. The first born of Pharaoh was killed on that night, forcing him to allow the chosen people to leave Egypt. On the Feast of Passover the Jews also commemorate the promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai.
We have chosen this Jewish feast of Passover to mark the completion of Christ’s work through the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. In many ways the coming down of the Holy Spirit “completed” the work of Christ. It gave birth to the Church, emboldened the Apostles to go out and evangelize.
Upon giving them the Holy Spirit, Jesus commanded them to forgive sins. Made into sacrament, forgiveness is now readily available for those inspired by the Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians St. Paul gives this warning: “If you are guided by the Spirit, you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgences.” (Galatians 5:13, ff.). No wonder those who refuse the inspiration of the Holy Spirit do not go to confession but wallow instead in sin.
When self-indulgence is at work, the results are fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility, jealousy, bad temper, quarrels, envy drunkenness and orgies. All these disarm a person of the power of the Spirit.
Let us purge ourselves of these spiritual viruses by approaching the sacrament of forgiveness. Once forgiven, let us seal off our inner selves by the power of the Holy Spirit so that the self won’t ever give in again to the inclination of wallowing in the lower instincts, driving the Spirit away.— Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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