Pentecost: Nativity, Nature, Nationality.

Homily  • 2019 June 9 •  PENTECOST SUNDAY    

• Acts 2:1-11  • Psalm 104 • 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13  • +John 20:19-23   __or__  +John 14:15-16, 23b-26 •           

Title: Pentecost: Nativity, Nature, Nationality.

[_01_]   What  we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday is also known as the birth – or birthday of the Church. Of course, birthdays can be tricky affairs – strewn and fraught with complications – especially as we grow older. We may prefer to avoid birthdays or at least not telling people how old we are.

          Nevertheless, is there any day more personally “sacred”  more personally important than one’s own birthday? Pentecost Sunday, then, is a birthday – a common day of birth that we all share.

          Because – in Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and by extension upon the whole Church – we all have the same birthday.

          And, by our peace toward and prayer for each other, we are also exchanging gifts.

          I’d like to touch on and reflect on Pentecost in terms of these 3 aspects, ► THE ► ► ►

[►Nativity of our Christian identity.

►Nature of our Christian identity.

►Nationality of our Christian Identity.]

[_02_]    ►Nativity of our Christian identity.

          When we think of NATIVITY, we often think of Christmas Eve/Christmas Day and Dec.25^th, Bethlehem and the birth of Christ.

          Yes, this was certainly a necessary step on the way to your – to my – NATIVITY/birth as a Christian. Jesus first had to be born among us. Joseph and Mary, from the beginning, recognize that the Christ Child was not only a gift to be received but also a gift to be given away. Jesus was born to them and also born to us.

          “A child is born to us .. a son is given us…” (Isaiah..)

          Our Nativity began when Jesus was born but continued when you/I were baptized and you/I were born to our own parents not only as a gift to be kept safe but also a gift to be given away.

          Thomas Merton wrote:  “There is a false and momentary happiness in self satisfaction – true happiness is found in selfish love, a love which increases in proportion as it is shared…Infinite sharing is the law of God’s inner life. He has made the sharing of ourselves the law of our being.”  (Thomas Merton, “Love Can Only Be Kept by Being Given Away”, No Man Is An Island)

          CONSIDER – do we not have a strong desire to give our selves away? Consider that we experience great consolation and peace by sharing both joy and sorrows with each other. And, do we not experience anxiety and desolation when we unable to share sorrow – or even joy?

          So, Pentecost is about your birth / my birth – as members of Christ’s body – and Pentecost is your birth announcement of your Christian identity – to be publicized and given away.

[_03_]      ►NATURE of our Christian identity.

          Pentecost also reflects the NATURE of our Christian identity.

          Father Ronald Knox (“Pentecost”, Parochial & Occasional Sermons, pp. 471-475, esp. pp. 474-475) notes that the NATURE of our Christian identity – or the characteristic feature of the Church was to be both OLD & YOUNG, both ANCIENT & NEW.

          And, on a birthday – we can feel both OLD and young.

          That is, the nature of the Church from the beginning was ancient with a connection to Moses and the Passover, but also NEW with its progress from the Passion through Death to the Resurrection.

          Love conquered death.

          Isn’t it true that one of the most singular compliments and evaluations we can make of a young person is to call him or her an “old soul.”

          For a young person with an old soul is wise – has wisdom – beyond his or her years and has an understanding of things that might be dismissed by others their age.

          To have an old soul does not mean that you are antiquated but that you appreciate things that have eternal value.

          And, so, it is part of our Christian nature to speak about the eternal importance of family, of marriage, of the raising of children, the value of forgiveness not because these values are going to make our lives better now or immediately, but because these values have eternal importance.

          Having an old soul as a Christian is part of our nature. It’s good news to be old!

          So we have touched on the NATIVITY of our Christian identity and the NATURE of our Christian identity.

[_04_]    On Pentecost Sunday, we also recognize the NATIONALITY of our identity.

            On Pentecost, we read that the Apostles spoke in the language of every person present.

            And, we by receiving the Holy Spirit can also trust that our love is shared and communicated – translated – even to those to whom we cannot speak. God speaks through us to people of all nations.

[_fin_]