Receive the Holy Spirit

Brief Audio Reflection "Receive the Holy Spirit": (Acts 2:1-21, Pentecost Sunday.

This Sunday most of the action is in the Acts of the Apostles. So with due reverence to John’s gospel, let’s break precedent and focus on this week’s First Reading from Acts. But first, let’s borrow a thought from John’s gospel account of the risen Christ appearing in the upper-room. After greeting the apostles with the customary “Shalom,” Jesus charges them: ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…’

In this Lenten-Easter cycle we learned once again that we are saved. Every sin that ever was or ever will be was nailed to that cross. In the risen Christ we know that eternal life is ours. We know that it is God’s gift outright. We need only believe and, as a sign of our belief, that we be baptized into the family of believers. We know too that believing is not a spectator sport. We can’t plump down on life’s proverbial couch and wait for Dominos to deliver eternal life. Our faith must be active, not passive. Only in an active faith can we generate the hope and the love that are the legacy of our redemption.

Sadly, like the apostles, we are slow learners and fast forgetters. That’s why the Holy Spirit comes to us as it did to them, not as a visitor, but as the abiding presence of God. You can ignore him, but not if you value salvation. He’s with us now. He’s why you are reading God’s word, today. He answers every prayer. If we take nothing else from these past ninety days… be awake, be alert to God’s presence in your life. Receive the Holy Spirit.