Pentecost

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, this is a major revealing of the Holy Spirit which enforces why we Catholics believe in a trinitarian God.

Some scholars say that one way to explain what this relationship is that they are “one God in three Divine persons”. The three persons are distinct, yet are one “substance, essence or nature”.

In the Gospel today, the Holy Spirit is given to the apostles by Jesus. They are empowered to go proclaim Jesus to the world. And Jesus also says “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

This reinforces the sacrament of reconciliation which Catholics practise.

Commonly known as confession, many Church-going Catholics ourselves, question the need to confess our sins to a human priest – for, if God is everywhere, and I can speak to him directly, why should I do that?

Well there clearly is a reason for this, and I will not dwelve into that for now. Suffice to say, we need the humility to obey Jesus’ commands as is recorded in the bible.

Humility is also what is needed to listen and be guided by the Holy Spirit to align our wills to God’s.

The apostles received the gift of language and they travelled out of their comfort zones to preach the word to distant lands. And eventually 11 out of the 12 were recorded to be matyred.

So the question for today is, will you and I allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit?

Happy feast day!