Pentecost Sunday Reflection: The Power and Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Readings and Virtual Homily for May 24, 2026, Feast of Pentecost; Amazing Graces; School's Out!
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20;19-23
Dear Friends and Family,
The Feast of Pentecost is one of the most important of the year. It should rightly be ranked with Christmas and Easter, in terms of its significance. It is not so ranked, by and large, but it should be. It is the manifestation in time and space of the Third Person of the Trinity. It is the coming in power into human history of the Holy Spirit. It is the birth of the Church.
The focus of many Pentecost homilies is often the first reading, and for good reason. The second chapter of Acts is not the first place in Scripture to mention the Spirit, but it is the place that really introduces the Spirit. A few considerations on this point.
The Spirit arrives after a period, tradition tells us ten days, of intense prayer. The disciples have been gathered "in cenacle" in the big house in Jerusalem, praying together and waiting together, as Jesus had instructed them to do (Luke 24:29). Prayer in community, in other words, calls down the graces of the Spirit, the miracle of Pentecost.
The Spirit appears with the sound of a great wind and descends upon the disciples in the form of "tongues of flame" (vss. 2-3) which seems entirely appropriate, given what happens next. The disciples, freed by the Spirit's gift of courage, from any lingering fear and anxiety about proclaiming themselves followers of Jesus, declare their discipleship boldly, with utter confidence and conviction.
The Spirit empowers the disciples to speak in a variety of languages (vs. 4) so that those gathered in the streets, who have come to Jerusalem from all over the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asian world, may understand -- a reversal of the curse of the Tower of Babel. The Spirit empowers communication.
Those baptized that day (over three thousand, vs. 41, and beyond today's reading), having come from all over the empire for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, will now take the Good News back home with them -- like seeds scattered by the wind, which will take root where they land. The clear take-away here is that the Good News is for the whole world.
Finally, Luke mentions the presence among the disciples of Mother Mary (Acts 1:14, and outside of today's passage). This is not an incidental thing: Mary (spouse of the Holy Spirit) is the Mother of the Church, which was born at Pentecost. Mary and the Spirit cooperated to bring about the birth of Jesus. Mary likewise is present when the Spirit appears and brings about the birth of the Church.
Folks often tell me they do not know the Holy Spirit. A good way to start to know and understand the Spirit is to go to THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Go to the index. Look up Holy Spirit. Then simply read through the declarations, the descriptions and the titles the index entries provide. There are far too many for me to list here. But here are a few of my favorites.
The Holy Spirit:
Animates all creation.
Grants gifts to all.
Is the master and source of prayer.
Restores the Divine Likeness.
Reveals God.
Directs and supports the Church.
Is the living memory of the Church.
You get the idea. The means and methods by which the Spirit reveals himself (really, more precisely, itself) to us are as varied as are we individual disciples. The Spirit comes to each of us in a manner precisely suited to the way that we have been designed -- designed to receive that very Spirit. But as I have said many times, both from the pulpit and in these written homilies, if you desire a personal relationship with the Third Person of the Godhead, you need do only one thing. Ask.
And then...fasten your seatbelt.
This week which marked the actual date of my twentieth anniversary as a priest has been filled with graces -- amazing graces. Dinners with friends in Pleasanton and Brentwood; lunch with my department at the high school; a reception at the high school; texts and e-mails from all around the diocese, including the 630 AM text from a friend in Fremont which started my day, Wednesday, the anniversary date itself. I loved my years at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Fremont. I might have stayed there 'til I retired. It was so cool to have started my anniversary day itself, with that beautiful text from Fremont. As I say, amazing graces.
Amidst all the celebratory joy, I find myself dropping into moments of quiet reflection -- for instance, on the drive to Brentwood Wednesday afternoon -- and just thinking about the past two decades of my life. I didn't have to become a priest. The Lord made that clear, early on in my discernment. But I knew, almost right from the start of my discernment, that I WOULD become a priest. And there was a point, early on, where I felt Jesus himself spoke to me, "Jim, I can assure you, if you will become my priest, you will find joy like none before."
I found joy as a seminarian. As a youth minister. As a graduate student in philosophy, at the GTU. As a teacher in Marysville's Confirmation program. I found joy all along the way to ordination and then...
I lived the joy of priesthood. In Pleasanton. In Fremont. In Brentwood. And today, in Hayward and at the high school. I heard the Lord right, when it seemed to me that he promised me joy.
In any event, my deep and -- well, joyful -- thanks for all the many expressions of congratulations, encouragement, love and support that have been coming my way this month.
It is Friday morning as I am getting this wrapped -- I am on campus, but my grading is, for the moment, caught up, and my only class ended an hour ago. That was also my last class of the semester. We have finals next week, but as my students are doing a project instead of taking an exam, I am done. Except, of course, for grading the project, which I have all of next week to accomplish.
As I have mentioned in previous e-mails, this May does not feel like Mays in years past. I am not crawling across the finish line. I am impressed with how sustained the deep rest I took over the sabbatical is proving to be. I am looking forward to a summer of writing and media ministry work, beyond the usual "summer schedule" at St. Clement, which, though more ramped up than my schedule during the academic terms, is all the same pretty light, pretty breezy -- light and breezy being good modifiers for Hayward's summer weather. I am looking forward to the next ten or eleven weeks.
Take good care. God bless.
Love,
El Padre