Spirit of the truth

Pentecost Sunday

Collect

O God, who by the mystery of today’s great feast sanctify your whole Church in every people and nation, pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth and, with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed, fill now once more the hearts of believers. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Acts 2:1-11

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
   they were all in one place together.
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.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
   but they were confused
   because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
   “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
   inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
   Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
   Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
   as well as travelers from Rome,
   both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
   yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
   of the mighty acts of God.”

The word of the Lord.

104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

R. :

℟. (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!
   O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O Lord!
   the earth is full of your creatures;

℟. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
   may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
   I will be glad in the LORD.

℟. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

If you take away their breath, they perish
   and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
   and you renew the face of the earth.

℟. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
  or:
℟. Alleluia.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians

Brothers and sisters, live by the Spirit
   and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
   and the Spirit against the flesh;
   these are opposed to each other,
   so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
   immorality, impurity, lust, idolatry,
   sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
   outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
   dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
   drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
   that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
   patience, kindness, generosity,
   faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
   with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

The word of the Lord.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
   Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, Source of all our store!
   Come, within our bosoms shine!
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome Guest;
   Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
   Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Thine,
   And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we has naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
   Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
   Wash the stains of guilt away;
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
   Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
   In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward
Give them your salvation, Lord;
   Give them joys that never end. Amen.
   Alleluia.

Acclamation before the Gospel

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Spirit of truth will guide you to all the truth.

Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
   the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
   he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
   because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
   he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
   but he will speak what he hears,
   and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
   because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
   for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
   and declare it to you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
R/. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflection

The feast of Pentecost offers many readings in Scripture which are of great significance.  In this Lectio, we will focus on the Gospel read on the feast of Pentecost.

Jesus is leaving the apostles his legacy.  He knows they don’t have a good memory or great courage, so he does not leave them without assistance.  This assistance is given through the Paraclete (the Advocate).  We give this Divine Person many different names, the most common is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit who sanctifies.  Jesus calls him the Spirit of Truth.

“When the Advocate comes” – As long as Jesus remained with them, he was their Advocate.  But he was now leaving them.  Therefore, he was going to send upon them another Paraclete to protect and guide them.  Without him they can do nothing.  From the day of Pentecost onwards, when the disciples of Jesus allowed the Paraclete to work with them and through them, the Church grew in maturity and in number.  But disciples quickly forget and begin to trust in themselves, in their talents or they place their trust in other people.  This is how the Church loses its promised “power”.

What relationship do you have with the Advocate for which Jesus paid a great price for so that you can receive Him to protect you and guide you?

“Whom I will send to you from the Father” – The Paraclete is God, a Person of the Blessed Trinity, He lives and reigns with the Father and the Son from all eternity.  You might be saying, why are you stating the obvious.  We all believe this.  But I put to you this question: do we truly believe this in a way that it changes the way we think about ourselves and our apostolate?  I will give one example.  In your relationship with God in prayer, how to you converse with God?

Do you allow the Holy Spirit within you inspire you to call God “Abba”, “Dad”?  Do you allow Him to open your mind and heart to understand the Holy Scriptures?  Do you allow Him to give you a word of truth, a prophetic word for your life, as he did with Our Lady, to St Peter, St Paul, St Francis of Assisi and St Catherine of Siena?  Do you allow Him to draw you into an intimate relationship reserved for a son or Daughter with their Father?

“When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” –   What truth is Jesus speaking about?  The truth that frees us.  Jesus says to those who believe in him: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn 8: 31-32).  The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, reminds us of Jesus’ Word (of course this requires us to read Jesus’ word in the Gospels), and allow him to convince us of it.  This is the truth that sets us free.

Now another question arises:  Am I making time to regularly read the Gospel and pray that the Holy Spirit leads me to understand Jesus’s words and allow Him to convince me of them, or do I attempt to interpret the Gospel in a way that is convenient to me or avoid reading it altogether.  Do I read it but not allow time for it to penetrate my heart with the power of the Spirit?

 

Ara l-Qari tal-Ħdud li għaddew