Letter for May 19, 2013
Pentecost Sunday

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The wind, the tongues of flame, the descending dove, all of these are attempts to understand, describe and celebrate the Holy Spirit. And it is these symbolic representations that we use to celebrate today, Pentecost, the Fifty Days, the birthday of the Church.

Even after the Ascension, the early community was small, disorganized and confused. In the classic description from Acts, the community was still behind locked doors, at least until the windows rattled in the breeze and tongues of flame came down onto the community, and the Church was born.

The Church was born. With the descent of the Holy Spirit, Jesus makes good on His Ascension promise that He would not leave us alone but would send us an Advocate. After the Advocate, the doors are unlocked and the windows are opened, and Peter and the Apostles open their mouths and are understood by the whole world.

It is this dynamic process of receiving the Advocate and going forth to fearlessly proclaim the Good News to a hungry world that we celebrate on this, our birthday. From the streets of Roman Jerusalem, up the Lebanon coast and inland to Damascus. Down the coast to Alexandria, following the Nile south to Ethiopia.

The Church is already on fire with love for the Savior and already enthusiastically spreading the news even before the work of Paul has a chance to begin.

And so here we are. Two millennia. New lands. New generations. With one Lord, one faith, one baptism. With one Spirit that animates and vivifies us, renewing us daily. Happy birthday to us!

Love,

Fr. Joe
 

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