HOMILY FROM CANON STEPHEN BAILLIE
Pentecost Sunday B21
The Spirit will Guide
Today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus is comfortable with an element of mystery. Speaking to the disciples before his arrest, Jesus is preparing them for the gift of the Spirit. The word he often uses is ‘Advocate’, meaning helper or comforter, indicating the disciples will not be left to struggle on alone. Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, like tongues of fire, which emboldened the apostles and the early believing community, and which continues to guide the Church.
What must it have been like in the early disciples huddled, fearful in that upper room? Among them was Peter who had denied Jesus. There was Thomas who refused to believe. There was the beloved disciple who had remained with Mary at the foot of the cross. Matthias, the new kid on the block, probably full of enthusiasm who replaces Judas. And there were many others. All kinds of people, much like our Church today. With the outpouring of the Sprit on them, each was able to go out and face all that was waiting for them outside. The spirit had now given them the power to express themselves, urging them out into the streets, proclaiming the Good News. The time has come! They must have remembered Jesus’ promise then, finally understanding what he meant when he said the Spirit would lead them, when the time was right.
Are we like the disciples today locked ourselves away, afraid of the opinions or actions of the people outside? Are we aware of the power and importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives? When Paul was in Ephesus – he meets some disciples, and he asks them if they received the Holy Spirit and became believers? They answered him ‘NO, we were never even told there was such a thing!’ Sometimes today as Church we act as if we haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit.
We need to get out of our upper rooms, be ‘fired’ up, recognise our hurts and the hurts we have caused, but not be afraid like the disciples to preach about the marvels of God. Then others might see in us the work of the Holy Spirit and be ‘amazed and astonished’.
The Spirit is still at work in our world. As our journey continues – as family & friends, as church communities, as individuals – the Spirit unveils God’s message for our place and time. The Spirit is that life-giving force that animates our world, inspiring and energising us. Our task is to listen, to be awake to the many ways God speaks to us and calls us into the life of God.
Let us pray, ‘Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful’. If the Spirit is in us and in our Church, the signs will be evident to see: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, truthfulness, gentleness and self-control.
