Reflection on the Readings at Mass for Pentecost During the Day. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray.
Pentecost During the Day
In principle, to live a holy life is rather easy. To be a holy people, we just need to make the right sacrifices; nothing more, and absolutely, nothing less. In contrast, the path to perdition is also an easy accomplishment to note on your worldly resume, because all that it requires is for us to make the wrong sacrifices. The commonality between living a holy life and living a sinful life is sacrifice; so, what is sacrifice? Sacrifice is simply defined as putting something or someone before yourself; it is decreasing yourself so that the thing you have chosen is elevated above your own immediate desires.
In the human circumstance, that is, the circumstance of those who have been given the gift of conscience, those who have chosen to forgo their own desires, so that the heart of God will become their very own heart and that His blood will flow through them, and His love will be the way they love, are the holy ones. In this way, the holy ones are those who imitate Christ Jesus in the very narrow sense that He became like us; our heart became His heart, and our blood flowed through God, and He found our condition good enough that He choose to divinize it by following the love of His Father for us to make the sacrifice for us. He put our life before His.
In contrast, those who have chosen themselves and elevated themselves or elevated their own desires and passions above God have chosen to have as their portion something less than God, which is an astounding confession in itself. Rather than imitate the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, they choose to imitate the sacrifice of Pontius Pilate and the religious establishment, who put the needs of their own safety, wealth, and status above the will of God. The truth about the death penalty given to our Lord was that it was the climax of the sin of idolatry; making ourselves a god and placing ourselves above God Almighty. What we learned from the crucifixion is that idolatry only kills the lesser god, because it detaches them from Him who is the very source of our life. Do not kill yourself in this way by being an idolater.
And if we were to ever wonder what the fruits of sacrifice are; that is, the fruits of consistently putting Christ Jesus first, not last, the Readings for the Pentecost Mass During the Day comes in to enlighten us about that very thing.
In the First Reading from Acts 2:1-11, the text informs us what putting our Lord first looks like. It says, “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” That is, they were anticipating the Lord, which is the right demeanor of a person who is putting another’s needs before their own. If you ever had the privilege of tending to the needs of a sick or handicapped person, you understand well this service of anticipating, waiting, and putting yourself second to them. That is what those who were gathered in the upper room were doing; they were anticipating the Lord, and because they were anticipating, they were open to receiving whatever labor was going to be assigned to them. “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”
A great deal has been written about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including the first evident gift of speaking in tongues, and about the diversity of gifts and fruits, written most precisely about by the Apostle Paul, including, in today’s Second Reading from 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13. Yet, it can be simply stated that we were given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so that we might always choose sacrifice over vanity; that we might always choose and always be empowered to choose Christ Jesus over ourselves; that we might always choose and always been happy to choose a life with God over eternity with Satan.
In this way, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the hope of David and the prophets who prayed for this day when they might be able to always rightly anticipate God. Psalm 54:6, “God is present as my helper, the Lord sustains my life.” Psalm 121:1-2, “I raise my eyes toward the mountain. From whence shall come my help? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.” Isaiah 41:10, “Do not fear: I am with you; do not be anxious: I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
What Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel Reading from John 14:15-16, 23b-26 was the fulfillment of their hope in this type of help, “Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
Returning to what I spoke of in the reflection on the Seventh Sunday in Easter – Year C, the liturgy is forming us to be martyrs; that is to sacrifice our lives so that the life of Christ Jesus might live in us; making a type of Eucharistic people setting the world on fire. Truly, we are being called to be who Simon Peter in heart wanted so much to be that day of the Passion of Christ, but his love was not, yet, enough. Although, one day soon, the Holy Spirit would give him the help he needed to be that martyr for Christ.
I know it is a pity for some that the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are not all about us. Certainly, there would be more Christians if we could somehow harness the gifts and fruits of the spirit for our selfish ambitions of safety, wealth, and status. Certainly, living a life where we consistently choose Christ Jesus will lead us to holiness, but that holiness will just be the mere product of our service; a mere product of giving away what He has given us; namely our very life.
Moreover, the beautiful gift of the Catholic Church and her sacraments given to her is that we learn through the liturgy of the Mass that we were born to be martyrs. Not only are we born to die physically, but the Sacrament of Baptism given to infants teaches us that we are born for service, sacrifice, and martyrdom. We were born into this life, not for our immediate sake, but for the will of God and to fulfill the good hopes of our neighbor. The liturgy is teaching how to anticipate God, by listening to Him in the Scriptures, praying, confessing, and waiting for Him to come to us to commune with us. The liturgy is teaching us that the help from the Holy Spirit comes in many ways, but universally through the Sacraments. The Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist) are there to do is to help, empower, and equip us to make the right sacrifices. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony comes to help and empower us to sacrifice our life for the betterment of our spouse; to put their needs before our own. The Sacrament of Holy Orders helps and equips the priest and the deacon to be at the service of the people of God. The Sacraments of Healing, Penance and Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick are there to help the wounded, to make wounded people well enough to go back into battle again; to sacrifice again, to try one more time to be martyrs. This is how the Divine Symphony, and the life of the Church are helping us, preparing us, and equipping us to make the Pentecost event a global transformation of people armored and ready to send Satan back to where he came from.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us on how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world who you have received during the liturgy.
