Liturgical Colour : White
Philippians 2 : 1-4
If I may advise you in the Name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one Spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.
On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Ephesians 3 : 14-21
And, now, I kneel in the presence of the Father, from Whom, every family in heaven and on earth has received its name. May He strengthen in you, the inner self, through His Spirit, according to the riches of His glory; may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in love.
All of this, so that you may understand, with all the holy ones, the width, the length, the height and the depth – in a word, that you may know the love of Christ, that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled, and reach the fullness of God.
Glory to God, Who shows His power in us, and can do much more than we could ask or imagine; glory to Him, in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)
Galatians 5 : 18-25
But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law. You know what comes from the flesh : fornication, impurity and shamelessness, idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said : those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no Law or punishment. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Numbers 11 : 25-29
YHVH came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He took some of the Spirit that was upon him and put It on the seventy elders. Now when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this they did not do again.
Two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad, the name of the other Medad. However, the Spirit came on them for they were among those who were registered though they had not gone out to the Tent. As they prophesied inside the camp, a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Joshua, the son of Nun, who ministered to Moses from his youth said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous on my behalf? Would that all YHVH’s people were prophets and that YHVH would send His Spirit upon them!”
Liturgical Colour : White
Romans 8 : 14-17
All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the spirit that makes you sons and daughters, and every time, we cry, “Abba! (this means Dad!) Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit, that we are sons and daughters of God.
If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God, and we will share it with Christ; for, if we now suffer with Him, we will also share glory with Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)
James 4 : 13-17
Listen now, you who speak like this, “Today or tomorrow we will go off to this city and spend a year there; we will do business and make money.”
You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? No more than a mist, which appears for a moment and then disappears. Instead of this, you should say, “God willing, we will live and do this or that.”
But no! You boast of your plans : this brazen pride is wicked. Anyone who knows what is good, and does not do it, sins.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
James 4 : 1-10
What causes these fights and quarrels among you? Is it not your cravings, that make war within your own selves? When you long for something you cannot have, you kill for it, and when you do not get what you desire, you squabble and fight. The fact is, you do not have what you want, because you do not pray for it.
You pray for something, and you do not get it, because you pray with the wrong motive, of indulging your pleasures. You adulterers! Do you not know, that making friends with the world makes you enemies of God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.
Can you not see the point of the saying in the Scripture : “The longing of the Spirit, He sent to dwell in us, is a jealous longing?” But God has something better to give, and Scripture also says, “God opposes the proud but He gives His favour to the humble.” Give in, then, to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw close to God and He will come close to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubters. Recognise your distress, be miserable and weep. Turn your laughter into tears and your joy into sadness. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will raise you up.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 11-16
Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.
How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen, and declare, that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God.
We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God and God in him.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 12-15
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”
“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the last day of the glorious and most joyful season of Easter, with this celebration of the Solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday, marking the time when the Holy Spirit came down upon all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, bestowing upon them the many gifts that God has promised, as well as the Wisdom, guidance and courage that would strengthen many of those disciples in their ministry and works, marking the moment when the Church was truly born. That is why this Pentecost celebration is sometimes also known as the ‘Birthday of the Church’ as prior to the Pentecost moment, all the disciples were filled with fear and uncertainty, hiding from the Jewish authorities and others who opposed the Lord and their works. Through the Holy Spirit, the great Advocate and Helper from the Lord, God has truly given us all the renewal and the encouragement we all needed to embark in our mission as Christians.
In our first reading today, we heard of the traditional account of the moment of the Pentecost from the Acts of the Apostles. detailing to us what happened on that day as the great tongues of flame of the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven upon all of the Apostles and the other disciples assembled in the same room, from which they immediately burst forth to proclaim courageously the truth and Good News of God to everyone who were assembled in Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival, that happened fifty days after the Passover. The Holy Spirit did not just give them the strength and courage to carry out the mission that they had been entrusted with, overcoming the fears in their hearts and minds, but also gave them the Wisdom and eloquence to speak the truth with great intellect and understanding of the truth, as well as the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues, allowing many people to understand them all at the same time.
The huge number of people who came to Jerusalem came from both the Jewish diaspora and also other foreigners who were interested to know more about the Lord, as were other travellers and people who came to enjoy the festivities, all coming from different parts of the world and speaking different languages, and yet all of them could miraculously comprehend what the disciples of the Lord were preaching to them. That is what the Holy Spirit had done upon us all as well, by bringing unto us the unity and harmony that restored our unity as one flock of the Lord, one Church of God. This unity had once been broken and shattered because of our sins and pride, our disobedience against God, like what one of the Old Testament passages from the Vigil of the Pentecost last night highlighted to us regarding the well-known story of the Tower of Babel, where human pride and arrogance led to them being scattered and their languages confused by God.
The Holy Spirit therefore came down upon us, uniting us and bringing us to once again live in harmony as one people of God, one Church, giving us the gifts to live worthily as Christians, as God’s people and to proclaim His Good News and truth to renew the world. The Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we all may carry on the missions entrusted by the Lord to His Church and disciples, to gather all the scattered people and those whom He loved from all over the whole world. Through the Holy Spirit, the Church was made tangible as the disciples no longer hid themselves but went forth with great courage to call on more and more people to turn back towards the Lord and to repent from their sins. Right from the very first day of the Church’s visible existence at Pentecost, according to the Acts of the Apostles, three thousand people chose to be baptised and therefore laid the foundations for the growing Christian community.
The Lord gave the Holy Spirit to His disciples, who then passed on the same Holy Spirit to the rest of the Church, giving all of its members, including all of us a variety of gifts and blessings, abilities and opportunities as we have heard from our second reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Through the Holy Spirit, St. Paul mentioned that we have been given diverse and different gifts, graces and blessings, and made to be one people regardless of our origin and background. Thus, there should be no longer be discrimination or attitudes that show elitism or contempt within the Church from one to another just because a certain part or member of the Church felt that he or she is better and more pious compared to others, or more capable and worthy than their fellow brothers and sisters. All of us are equal before the Lord our God and we are equally beloved as well.
The Holy Spirit has given us all many gifts and this is what we should be reflecting on this day as we celebrate this glorious occasion, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church and the end of the glorious Easter season. We must first realise that the joy and the spirit of Easter must not end with today’s celebration. Rather, we have to carry on living our Christian lives with zeal and courage, to continue doing what we have done thus far, in doing God’s will and in carrying out whatever missions and opportunities we have been given. It is also an important reminder for each one of us that we have been given different calling and vocations in life, and this means that in whatever areas and in whichever vocation that we have, we should do what we can do to glorify God and to proclaim His Good News, and more often than not, this requires us to live our Christian lives well, to be genuinely and fully faithful in our lives to God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence remind ourselves to let the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us each day and at every moments, so that we may always be good role models and sources of inspiration for one another in faith, continuing what the Lord has asked us to do, to be missionary and evangelising in our own respective communities. Let our actions, words and deeds, and our every interactions and works inspire more and more people, touch their hearts and minds so that they may come ever closer to God and that they may know the Lord and His truth better. Through all these, many more people and many more souls will come ever closer to God’s salvation, and each one of us have important parts to play in this. All of us are important in the Church’s efforts for the conversion of souls, and each one of our little actions do really matter.
May the Risen Lord be with us and His Church always, and may the Holy Spirit continue to guide and strengthen us, inflame and encourage us that we may always be firm in our faith and actions, and do our best to reach out to others with exemplary and shining faith in God. May the Holy Spirit lead us and help us to serve God ever more courageously and may all of us be strengthened in all things, now and always, forevermore. Come, Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth, and come to bless and strengthen us, give us the courage and desire to continue to do God’s will, at all times. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 