Homily: Pentecost

May 24, 2026

My dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate today the great solemnity of Pentecost. We celebrate today the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Jesus before He ascended to heaven promised His disciples that He would send them another Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who would be with them forever. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity is that Gift from above that forever gives life to the people of God on earth. Let me give an example, to keep and sustain an airplane flying in the air, there must be a balance of forces, the force of lift to overcome the force of gravity and the force of thrust to overcome the force of drag. Nobody sees these forces of lift or gravity or thrust or drag but their delicate balance lifts and sustains this gigantic monster called airplane that weighs hundreds of tons flying in the air for many hours. Make a mistake in this balance of forces and the outcome would be very catastrophic. The Holy Spirit is like that unseen vital force and principle that has sustained the Church and kept her going for centuries and millennia.

In the first reading of today taken from the Acts of the Apostles, the event of the Pentecost day was narrated. From this narrative, we could see three basic elements that marked the event: the sound of a mighty wind, tongues of fire and the charism of speaking in other languages. All these three elements are rich in symbolic meaning. First the sound of a mighty wind. In Hebrew as in Greek, “wind” is a synonym of “spirit” meaning “ruah” and “pneuma,” it also means breath. In the bible, a strong wind announces the presence of God, the breadth of wind is an expression of divine power. For instance, we are conversant with Gen 2:7, God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. In the gospel reading of today, we read that after His resurrection, Jesus met with His disciples and breathed on them, receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. The breath is the most immaterial reality we perceive. It cannot be seen. It is intangible. It cannot be grasped by the hand. It seems nothing and yet it is vitally important. The person who does not breathe cannot live. The difference between a living person and a dead person is that the living has breath and the dead has not. A Christian who has lost the breath of the Holy Spirit and does not care, his/her problem is deeply concerning. In the second verse of the responsorial psalm of today, we sang, “when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust, when you send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth.”

Another rich biblical element on this Pentecost day is the symbol of fire. In the Old Testament, fire was always present in the manifestations of God. For instance, we remember how Moses encountered God in a burning bush (Ex 3:2), how the column of fire guided the people of Israel by night through the desert (Ex 13:21-22). Fire naturally shows that something is alive, something has to burn to keep fire alive. Tongues of fire can signify various gifts, tasks, vocations, various services of salvation and various initiatives that the Holy Spirit has put in us. Brothers and sisters, we have to burn for this fire of God’s Spirit to keep on glowing.

The symbolism of the multiplication of languages is also very significant. We recall Gen. 11:5-9, when the people wanted to build a tower as high as heaven, they wanted to become like God. Their pride and sin caused difference in language and confusion, they scattered over the face of the earth. However, with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, these difference in language ceased to be a barrier, all people and all nations became one united people in God and they could hear themselves. The Holy Spirit can do more for us in overcoming disunity, hatred, and strife in our families and society, if we are open to Him. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of freedom; He cannot force Himself on us. Like the apostles, we must be open to Him, we must accept this Gift from above. We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the transformation of the world. Daily prayers are very important for us to be able to hear and understand the impulses of the Spirit. We must courageously say no to a lifestyle that grieves the Holy Spirit. c