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Pentecost Sunday Year B - 23/5/2021 - Gospel: Jn 20: 19-23
The Third Party
In the Holy Trinity, One God in three Persons, each Person of God takes charge a mission. The first Person of God, the Father, does the planning; the second Person of God, Jesus, executes the plan, and the third Person of God, the Holy Spirit, perfects the plan. This week we celebrate the third Person of God, the new era of the Holy Spirit. Each person takes charge of a mission and all three Persons of God work together. The unity between Jesus and the Father is that: 'All I have is yours and all you have is mine' John 17,10. And the unity between Jesus and the Spirit is that, 'When the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth... since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine' John 16,14.

The account of creation stated that, at the beginning God created human beings. God breathed on them, and they had life (Genesis 1,27). By free will people chose to follow their own will and were lost. God didn't abandon His creation. The second Person of God, Jesus, came to show us the way to return to the Father. Having completed His saving mission, Jesus returned to the Father. He gave the third Person of God, the Spirit, to His apostles. He breathed on them, saying: 'Receive the Holy Spirit' Jn.20:22. Each apostle as an individual received the Spirit. The Spirit of a community comes from communal prayers. Empowered with the Spirit the apostles received a new life. It was the beginning of the new era. All Jesus' apostles would embark on the spreading of the Good News. We, the later generations, all are included in this sending: 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you' Jn 20,21. 

Jesus had promised to send His special gift, the Spirit, to all His disciples. The Spirit will guide them on their journey of faith. The Spirit brings with her the new era, the era of the world wide evangelization by all Jesus' disciples. The era's task is that Jesus' disciples were energized to bring the Good News to everyone, and the Gentiles are included. When the Spirit is the focal point of our activities, all daily activities are worthwhile, and meaningful, because the Spirit breathes life into our work.

Through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation we receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us to abide in Him, connect to Him, to stay focussed on the Spirit,  to receive life from Him, and guidance from the Spirit. Human weakness and lack of prayer on our part separate us from God's love. Separated from God's love we certainly will do not God's will, but prefer to follow our own will.  The Spirit will not abandon us but keeps calling us to come back to God.

There are ways of restoring the gift of the Spirit. The simple way is praying, and that leads to reconciliation with God. Each individual can listen to the voice of the Spirit in private prayers, and devotions, and other sacraments of the Church. For each individual, the Sacrament of Reconciliation opens the door for him/her to return to God. The other way is through communal prayers. The community listens to the voice of the Spirit to work together in works of charity, and to build up God's Church on earth. Anything done in the Name of Jesus, The Spirit uses to help us restore our relationship to Jesus. Several accounts in the Acts of the Apostles tell us, that Jesus wants us to be His hands and feet to take care of others. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles as tongues of fire, and that empowered them to go out to the whole world proclaiming the Risen Christ to everyone. At Baptism and Confirmation we receive the same Spirit, the same mission, and that is our call.

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