Happy Birthday!
The church is more than 2000 years old but still is as beautiful as that time the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the upper room; not perfect, but beautiful just the same.
In his book, Divine Renovation, Fr James Mallon speaks of its principles. First of which is ‘Identity’. The church exists for mission. As Pentecost is the birthday of the church, then the mission “to go and make disciples of all” (The Great Commission – Matthew 28:19-20) is who we are, and not just what we do. In ‘The Permanent Revolution’, Alan Hirsch wrote “It is not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church”. Our mission must be our identity, our posture, our culture.
“Me? Evangelise?” you may ask. It’s daunting. Yes, but “the task ahead of me is never as great as the power behind me” (Charles Whitehead – Pentecost is Always for Living). The power of the Holy Spirit is clearly evidenced in the Book of Acts (of the Apostles). The first disciples were ‘filled’ or ‘full’ of the grace and power of the Holy Spirit from the day of Pentecost, facing the challenges of the early church, and even when facing death by stoning (Stephen – Acts 7:55).
In this Jubilee year, we pray that God’s grace ‘transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.’ And that the ‘grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.’ Pope Francis (+) said that “A renewal of preaching can offer believers, as well as the lukewarm and the non-practising, new joy in the faith and fruitfulness in the work of evangelisation.” (Evangelii Gaudium 11).
Like the Apostles on Pentecost, we received the same Holy Spirit on our baptism. Let’s celebrate the church’s birthday by living our identity as evangelisers of the Gospel and the truth of our Lord’s Resurrection. In the Great Commission our Lord promised to be with us always, to the end of the age. What’s stopping us?
A blessed Pentecost Sunday to all.
Randy Reyes
