Mass readings for Pentecost:
Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 or Romans 8:8-17
John 20:19-23
We all heard it when we were kids, that dire warning: “Don’t play with fire!” “Stay away from the stove, it’s hot!”
This Sunday, though, that goes out the window. The apostles start to play with fire – those tongues of flame that come to rest above them – and the rest is history. It is a history that affects every believing Christian, and it is a history that is still unfolding.
Pentecost, of course, marks the time we traditionally refer to as the “birthday of the Church.” (Which reminds me: what birthday would be complete without candles burning and little tongues of flame?) It’s a moment of divine revelation, when the Holy Spirit arrives and the apostles set out to spread the Gospel to anyone who can hear it and anyone who can understand it – which, it turns out, is everyone.
The account from Acts makes it plain: “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?’”
What they soon realize is something we have known all along: the message of Jesus – the teachings of the Gospel, the Good News of healing and faith, restoration and salvation – knows no barriers. It transcends language. It touches everyone. And this day we are reminded that it does so with an unquenchable fire.
It’s useful to look back through Scripture and see where else flames appear. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus himself (perhaps foreshadowing this day) says he has come to set the earth on fire. In Chronicles (again reminding us of Pentecost), the author gives us fire coming down from heaven. But the most famous, perhaps, is in Exodus, when God speaks to Moses from a burning bush. From that encounter eventually comes the most famous of all biblical journeys, the Exodus.
It was the most significant trek in Scripture – but perhaps we should realize that what happened centuries later at Pentecost launched yet another journey. In Scripture, a flame is just the beginning.
But what a beginning. Many of us witnessed it for ourselves at the very start of the season that is now drawing to a close. At the Easter Vigil – which, not insignificantly, always begins with a burst of fire – we saw how many of our friends and neighbors burned with newfound faith.
What we were seeing and experiencing was a reminder: Pentecost wasn’t just one day. We’re living in it now. It started in an Upper Room in a corner of Israel, and there it was catching fire again and again and again, in churches from places as varied as Brooklyn and Barcelona. But we all know what was on fire was more than just the candles we saw during the service. That divine flame thrower, the Holy Spirit, was igniting hearts.
This weekend is a blessed opportunity for us to give thanks for all the fires of the Easter season, all the candles that remind us of the birthday of the Church and the light of Christ that continues to spread with every Easter, every Pentecost, every soul seeking a spirit of renewal and hope. Give thanks for that spirit, the Holy Spirit!
And then, maybe, we should ask ourselves: how can we keep that fire going? The apostles were unafraid to “play with fire.” What about us? How can we bear witness to the Gospel in our own lives, and speak the “native language” of faith to others? Once the Easter season is over and the baskets and bonnets are packed away, we’re still “Easter people.” Pentecost endures.
How will we live that out in the world?
(Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog “The Deacon’s Bench.”)d
