First
Reading, A – Genesis 11:1-9 ©
First
Reading, B – Acts 2:1-11
Psalm, A 32(33):10-15
Psalm,
B 106(107):2-9
Psalm,
C 103(104):1-2,24,27-30,35
Second Reading, A – Exodus 19:3-8,16-20
©
Second Reading, B - Romans 8:8-17
Canticle - Daniel
3:52-56
Third Reading – Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©
Fourth Reading
– Joel 3:1-5 ©
Fifth Reading
– Romans 8:22-27 ©
Sequence –
Veni, Sancte Spiritus
Gospel
Acclamation
The Gospel
According to John, First Reading – John 7:37-39
The Gospel According to John, Second Reading
– John 14:15-16,23-26
The Gospel According to John, Third Reading
– John 15:26-27,16:12-15 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
This
reading we are given today is the story of agrarianism. It details one possible
understanding about how cities came to be built in the large agricultural
centers. The story, as it comes to us through the Church, is the mythologization
of a narrative that reaches back into the age of myth, one that moves farther
and farther away from the real events that took place in settlement of the
Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Indus River valleys.
Wherever
agrarian societies were established, larger populations of people came to be
supported. These expanding communities fostered greater number of weaker
people, they became targets of attack and so to protect themselves against
others, as well as to keep their own population confined, they built walls
around their cities and placed their granaries, which also served as temples at
their center.
This
narrative concerning the construction of the first tower, the tower of Babel, also
marks the beginning of cultic religion. In Mesopotamia these towers were called
ziggurats, they served a variety of purposes; as granary and temple they were
under the management of the priestly cast, and from the top of these towers the
astronomers watched and recorded, and developed the mathematics to predict the
movements of the stars in the heavens.
The
move from the nomadic life, the life of the herder and hunter, to agrarianism separated
the people into castes. We refer to this as the division of labor, people were grouped
into categories such as: field workers, merchants and artisans, warriors, priests
and royals. As time passed these castes became increasingly more rigid, and
movement between them became nearly impossible for ordinary people…with agrarianism
came slavery and servitude enshrined in the laws of gods and men a social
tragedy the effects of which we have yet to undo, and which all true prophets struggle
against.
Remember this.
God is a God of law and order.
God, the creator of the universe, is not a purveyor
of magic tricks, God does not dabble in the supernatural or trade in miracles,
which means that we must read the narrative from the Acts of the Apostles
as allegory and metaphor.
Here is the meaning:
At the time Acts was written the Church had
grown to include a great number of people from all parts of the Roman Empire,
from Egypt and North Africa, From Arabia and Persia, from all around the
Mediterranean, from North and South of the Black Sea.
In the company of believers there were speakers and
translators capable of sharing the Good News in every tongue that was known,
from Ethiopia to Brittania, from Carthage to India. Thise with the ability to
speak in multiple tongues, were consider both blessed by God for possessing
these skills, and a blessing to the community for sharing them…this is the
simplest and most natural reading of the story.
Know this. The psalmist is correct.
It
is fitting to praise God, and wise to trust in God’s counsel (should you receive
it), it is wise to have faith in God’s mercy; for God’s counsel you may not
receive but divine consolation you will…but do not expect God to rescue you
from danger, and do not believe that God’s loves any one of God’s children more
than another. God does not intervene in worldly affairs.
God
knows all things and understands all things…you have heard this said.
God’s
understanding is not limited to an abstract knowledge of the particular details
pertaining to specific events, God understands our person, our choices, our
lives; even as we understand them ourselves, only with a clarity that we could
never ourselves possess…because God understands all.
Therefore
trust in God’s plan for you, trust in God’s plan for creation, but do not wait
for salvation because the salvation that has been promised, by God through the
prophets, is already yours…go out and share the good news.
Praise
the divine and affirm through our faith that God, the creator of the universe
is good, that God is not a partisan, that God made us in this world, that God
made us and the world itself free.
Know
this.
The eternal God is the first source and center of
all things, the infinite God engenders all potentialities, while interfering with
none of them. God does not coerce creation, and yet the entirety of what is
moves according to God’s wise purpose.
Remember.
We must always be diligent in our commitment to
expose false theology. We cannot let our imagination linger on fables and myths
without at the time naming them for what they are…fables and myths, allegories,
analogies and metaphors.
If we took these stories seriously and committed ourselves
to them literally, we would have to uphold the tradition that human beings need
an intermediary like Moses to pass messages back and forth between the rest of
humanity and God. We would have to accept as vital and necessary the
institution of a priesthood. We would have to accept the idea that God, has
chosen one tribe out of the whole world, to represent God’s will to the people.
We would have to believe in the absolute necessity of ritual washing before a
person could be acceptable to God. We would have to accept the notion that only
specific chosen people, priests of various orders are permitted by God to
approach a sacred place, and that God endorses the death penalty for those who
violate it.
We would have to accept a myriad of beliefs
concerning the function and nature of the blood-taboo. We would have to accept
the idea that it is unclean to be or touch a woman…these ideas we cannot accept
because they are false, and the first thing we are called to be as Christians
is servants of the truth.
We are all the children of God, and God dwells in every
heart, God is present in all times and places, where God is present God is
present fully, and there is no place where God is not.
There are no intermediaries, God speaks to us
directly, male and female, sons and daughters, Jew and gentile; not as a king
or a lord, God does not come with pomp and circumstance, God is not heralded
with fire and trumpets, with drums and horns…God speaks quietly to those who
will listen…God speaks in the voice of love.
Consider the teaching of the apostle, he misses an
important point and makes a grievous error:
Know this.
The spirit of God lives in all people. Do not doubt
it; we are all God’s children, and God loves every single one of us. The spirit
of Jesus lives in all people because we all exist in relationship to one
another, and those relationships are an ontological reality. Our relationship
to God and Jesus is a determinative factor in the nature of our being, as all
of our relationships are, no matter how remote or distant from us in time and
space they might be…do not forget this when you read the apostle and see him misconstruing
many things.
It is true that we are free to live spiritual lives,
lives governed by our most altruistic hopes and values. We do not have to live
as animals do, red in tooth and claw. Everyone is a child of God; from
the most disciplined and devout, to the most reckless and devilish, and because
we are God’s children no one has need to fear God, we are sisters and brothers all
created in the divine image and united in the eternal source of all being.
Some of us may suffer more than others…though
everyone suffers; Jesus suffered and we honor the hope gave us even in his
moment of agony.
Know this.
God does not require or even desire our praise and
exaltations, except insofar as those praises take the form of a merciful and
generous bearing toward one other. God does not dwell in a temple (exclusively);
God is present in all places, in everyone, to everyone.
If you wish to be a servant of God, turn to the
person next to you who is in greatest need and serve God through the love and
kindness you show to them.
Be mindful.
It has always been
understood that Ezekiel's vision is a metaphor; there is not part of this narrative
that should be taken literally, and the message is this:
If you hearken too the
words of the prophet, you will be restored to life and wellness.
If you obey the word of
God, you will be rewarded.
All who call on God will
be saved, as Isaiah says: in the end every knee shall bend and every tongue
confess the name of God.
It is wise and good to
anticipate the coming of God. It is wise and good to desire to be in the
presence of God; anticipate that moment, relish it, cherish it, but remain
present to the people and events that are actually occurring in your life.
When you are in prayer,
and your thoughts are unformed, when your feelings are unclear and no words
come to your mind, or when the words that do come are inappropriate for prayer;
then be silent, quiet your mind, still the murmurs in your heart, let go of the
voices; be silent and listen…let your prayer be an act of listening.
Be mindful.
The same prayers we pray
for ourselves, are the prayers we are called on to pray for everyone, even our
adversaries, including our most bitter enemies. If you pray for light of
understanding, if you pray for life and peace, if you pray for solace and
grace, if you pray for healing and guidance, if you pray for any blessing at
all, make that prayer for everyone.
Consider the Gospel
readings for today; follow Jesus
along the way.
The way
is life, trust in Jesus and keep to the way.
Let the thirsty come, serve them and be replenished,
your thirst will be relieved.
Know this.
Belief is not a coin we exchange for access to God,
no-one is at the gate waiting to punch your ticket; there is no gatekeeper,
there is no gate, simply come if you are thirsty…drink and be restored.
Do not muddle around in the rhetoric of John or
allow John’s confusion to stop you; when John attempts to qualify the hopeful
message he received from Jesus, to narrow the path and put stumbling blocks in
your path, John deviates from the way.
Remember this!
The spirit has always been with us, all things
coming into being by the spirit of God, we are all sustained by God’s spirit
and we will return to God just as the rain returns to the sea.
God abandons no-one. God will leave no orphans,
no-one will be left behind or stranded in the world. Not one of us shall be
lost…this is the gospel.
All people dwell within God, without whom not one
person, thing or being would exist; this is our faith…God is with us!
Be mindful!
Our salvation is not transactional, we are saved because
God wills it, God wills it because God loves us…God loves each and every one
one of us.
There is no division in the divine, the infinite and
eternal being is inclusive of all reality, no-one is excluded. Every person who
ever was, who is, who ever will be, is present within the divine spirit, as
such they are present within each of us, for each of us carries the divine with
ourselves…and there is not division in the divine.
Jesus was the son of God, as each of us is a child
of God, a daughter or a son; therefore love one another as God loves you and do
not be afraid, for life on Earth is merely a passage to another world. We
experience it as the unfolding a mystery, when we cross the threshold we will
all see clearly the truth that unites.
Everything and everyone, returns to the creator, in
so doing we come to the understanding that we were never one apart.
Listen to your sister, to your brother, listen because
they have something important to say. Each one of us has the potential to speak
for God, to be God’s prophet and to advocate for the work of Christ. We all
have that potential, at any moment on any day it might rise within us, be
prepared to speak to it when it does, and also know this: the potential within
us is coiled around our potential to fail.
God has ordained that we are one and nothing, not
even the power of sin can rend asunder what God has joined.
Listen!
There is no deception in God, no falsehood, no
fabrication, no prevarication. The divine does not lie. Those who claim to
speak for the divine must not lie or mislead, cover-up or hide.
Know this.
We are human and prone to error, but there is no
error in God. When those who have ascended to positions of leadership in
Christian communities lie to you, you must reject them.
Some will commit errors because they are honestly
confused, but many others commit errors that are willful. They know they are
lying to you and they do it anyway; they do it for wealth, they do it for
power, they do it to hide from their shame (whatever that might be).
These people have abandoned Jesus, maybe not in the
whole of their lives, but in their lying they have, and every time they repeat
their lies they do.
Be mindful.
We have all forsaken God at one time or another, but
God has never forsaken us…God never will.
First
Reading, A – Genesis 11:1-9 ©
The
Tower of Babel
Throughout
the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they
moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled.
They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’
(For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they
said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven.
Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the
whole earth.’
Now the Lord came down to see the town and
the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with
a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their
undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go
down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer
understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of
the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore,
because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from
there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.
First
Reading, B – Acts 2:1-11
They
Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit and Began to Speak
When
Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they
heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled
the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them
that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head
of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak
foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem
from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one
bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and
astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does
it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians,
Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and
Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well
as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear
them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’
Psalm, A 32(33):10-15
The Lord provides
Praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
Rejoice in the Lord, you just:
it is good
for the upright to praise him.
Proclaim the Lord on the lyre,
play his
song on the ten-stringed harp.
Sing a new song to the Lord,
sing out
your cries of triumph,
for the word of the Lord is truly just,
and all his
actions are faithful.
The Lord loves justice and right judgement;
the earth is
full of his loving kindness.
By the Lord’s word the heavens were made,
and all
their array by the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the seas as if in a bag,
he stored up
the depths in his treasury.
Let every land fear the Lord,
let all the
world be awed at his presence.
For he spoke, and they came into being;
he
commanded, and they were made.
The Lord confounds the counsel of the nations,
throws the
thoughts of the peoples into confusion.
But the Lord’s own counsel stands firm for ever,
his thoughts
last for all generations.
Happy the nation whose lord is God,
the people
he has chosen as his inheritance.
The Lord looks down from the heavens
and sees all
the children of men.
From his dwelling-place he looks
upon all who
inhabit the earth.
He moulded each one of their hearts,
he
understands all that they do.
The king will not be saved by his forces;
the
abundance of his strength will not set the strong man free.
Do not trust a horse to save you,
whatever its
swiftness and strength.
For see, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear
him,
upon those
who trust in his mercy,
hoping he will save their souls from death
and their
bodies from hunger.
Our souls praise the Lord,
for he is
our help and our protector,
for our hearts rejoice in him,
and we trust
in his holy name.
Lord, show us your loving kindness,
just as we
put our hope in you.
Psalm,
B 106(107):2-9
Let Them Thank
the Lord for His Love, for the Wonders He Does for Men
Alleluia.
Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good,
for his kindness is for ever.
Let them say this, the
people the Lord has redeemed,
those whom he rescued from their enemies
whom he gathered together from all lands,
from east and west, from the north and the
south.
They wandered through
desert and wilderness,
they could find no way to a city they could
dwell in.
Their souls were weary
within them,
weary from hunger and thirst.
They cried to the Lord in
their trouble
and he rescued them from their distress.
He set them on the right
path
towards a city they could dwell in.
Let them give thanks to
the Lord for his kindness,
for the wonders he works for men:
the Lord, who feeds
hungry creatures
and gives water to the thirsty to drink.
They sat in the darkness
and shadow of death,
imprisoned in chains and in misery,
because they had rebelled
against the words of God
and spurned the counsels of the Most High.
He wore out their hearts
with labour:
they were weak, there was no-one to help.
They cried to the Lord in
their trouble
and he rescued them from their distress.
He led them out of the
darkness and shadow of death,
he shattered their chains.
Let them give thanks to
the Lord for his kindness,
for the wonders he works for men:
the Lord, who shatters
doors of bronze,
who breaks bars of iron.
The people were sick
because they transgressed,
afflicted because of their sins.
All food was distasteful
to them,
they were on the verge of death.
They cried to the Lord in
their trouble
and he rescued them from their distress.
He sent forth his word
and healed them,
delivered them from their ruin.
Let them give thanks to
the Lord for his kindness,
for the wonders he works for men:
Let them offer a
sacrifice of praise
and proclaim his works with rejoicing.
Those who go down to the
sea in ships,
those who trade across the great waters –
they have seen the works
of the Lord,
the wonders he performs in the deep.
He spoke, and a storm
arose,
and the waves of the sea rose up.
They rose up as far as
the heavens
and descended down to the depths:
the sailors’ hearts
melted from fear,
they staggered and reeled like drunkards,
terror drove them out of their minds.
But they cried to the
Lord in their trouble
and he rescued them from their distress.
He turned the storm into
a breeze
and silenced the waves.
They rejoiced at the
ending of the storm
and he led them to the port that they wanted.
Let them give thanks to
the Lord for his kindness,
for the wonders he works for men:
let them exalt him in the
assembly of the people,
give him praise in the council of the elders.
The Lord has turned
rivers into wilderness,
he has made well-watered lands into desert,
fruitful ground into salty waste
because of the evil of those who dwelt there.
But he has made
wilderness into ponds,
deserts into the sources of rivers,
he has called together
the hungry
and they have founded a city to dwell in.
They have sowed the
fields, planted the vines;
they grow and harvest their produce.
He has blessed them and
they have multiplied;
he does not let their cattle decrease.
But those others became
few and oppressed
through trouble, evil, and sorrow.
He poured his contempt on
their princes
and set them to wander the trackless waste.
But the poor he has saved
from their poverty
and their families grow numerous as sheep.
The upright shall see,
and be glad,
and all wickedness shall block up its mouth.
Whoever is wise will
remember these things
and understand the mercies of the Lord.
Psalm, C
103(104):1-2,24,27-30,35
Hymn to
God the Creator
Lord, My
God, How Great You are!
Alleluia.
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord, my God, how great you are!
You are robed in majesty
and splendour;
you are wrapped in light as in a cloak.
You stretch out the sky
like an awning,
you build your palace upon the waters.
You make the clouds your
chariot,
you walk upon the wings of the wind.
You make the breezes your
messengers,
you make burning fire your minister.
You set the earth upon
its foundation:
from age to age it will stand firm.
Deep oceans covered it
like a garment,
and the waters stood high above the
mountains;
but you rebuked them and
they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they fled in
terror.
They rise to the
mountains or sink to the valleys,
to the places you have decreed for them.
You have given them a
boundary they must not cross;
they will never come back to cover the earth.
You make springs arise to
feed the streams,
that flow in the midst of the mountains.
All the beasts of the
field will drink from them
and the wild asses will quench their thirst.
Above them will nest the
birds of the sky,
from among the branches their voices will
sound.
From your palace you
water the mountains,
and thus you give plenty to the earth.
You bring forth grass for
the cattle,
and plants for the service of man.
You bring forth bread
from the land,
and wine to make man’s heart rejoice.
Oil, to make the face
shine;
and bread to make man’s heart strong.
The trees of the Lord
have all that they need,
and the cedars of Lebanon, that he planted.
Small birds will nest
there,
and storks at the tops of the trees.
For wild goats there are
the high mountains;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys.
He made the moon so that
time could be measured;
the sun knows the hour of its setting.
You send shadows, and
night falls:
then all the beasts of the woods come out,
lion cubs roaring for
their prey,
asking God for their food.
When the sun rises they
come back together
to lie in their lairs;
man goes out to his
labour,
and works until evening.
How many are your works,
O Lord!
You have made all things in your wisdom,
and the earth is full of your creatures.
The sea is broad and
immense:
sea-creatures swim there, both small and
large,
too many to count.
Ships sail across it;
Leviathan lives there, the monster;
you made him to play with.
All of them look to you
to give them their food when they need it.
You give it to them, and
they gather;
you open your hand, they are filled with good
things.
But turn away, and they
are dismayed;
take away their breath, and they die,
once more they will turn into dust.
You will send forth your
breath, they will come to life;
you will renew the face of the earth.
Glory be to the Lord, for
ever;
let the Lord rejoice in his works.
He turns his gaze to the
earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord
all my life;
as long as I exist, I will sing songs to God.
May my praises be
pleasing to him;
truly I will delight in the Lord.
Let sinners perish from
the earth,
let the wicked vanish from existence.
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Second Reading, A – Exodus 19:3-8,16-20
©
Moses led the people out of the camp
to meet God
Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him
from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the
sons of Israel:
‘“You
yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on
eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you
obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my
very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a
consecrated nation.”
‘Those are
the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’
So Moses
went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the
Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord
has said, we will do.’
Now at
daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and
lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp
all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God;
and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was
entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of
fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook
violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and
God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of
Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the
mountain.
Second Reading, B - Romans 8:8-17
Everyone Moved by the Spirit is a Son
of God
People who are interested only in unspiritual things
can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the
unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in
you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to
him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you
then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the
Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who
raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his
Spirit living in you.
So then, my
brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to
live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but
if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.
Everyone
moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit
of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it
makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united
witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as
well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to
share his glory.
Canticle - Daniel 3:52-56
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; and blessed is your holy and
glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
Blessed are you who look into the depths from your
throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
praiseworthy and glorious forever.
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise
and exalt him above all forever.
Third
Reading – Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©
A Vision of Israel's Death and Resurrection
The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried
me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a
valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast
quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and
they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I
said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to
make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I
shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath,
and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I
had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of
clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were
covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but
there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy,
son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds,
breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered
me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their
feet, a great, an immense army.
Then he
said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying,
“Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So
prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves;
I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil
of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and
raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and
you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know
that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’
Fourth Reading
– Joel 3:1-5 ©
I
Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Mankind
Thus says the Lord:
‘I will pour out my
spirit on all mankind.
Your sons and daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see
visions.
Even on the slaves, men
and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days.
I will display portents
in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.’
The sun will be turned
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord dawns,
that great and terrible
day.
All who call on the name
of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion there will be some who have
escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord
will call.
Fifth Reading
– Romans 8:22-27 ©
The Spirit
Himself Expresses Our Plea in a Way that Could Never be Put into Words
From the beginning till
now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of
giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits
of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.
For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in
sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we
must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait
for with patience.
The Spirit too comes to help us in our
weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit
himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God
who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that
the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of
God.
Sequence –
Veni, sancte Spiritus
Holy Spirit, Lord of
Light,
From the clear celestial
height
Thy pure beaming radiance
give.
Come, thou Father of the
poor,
Come with treasures which
endure
Come, thou light of all
that live!
Thou, of all consolers
best,
Thou, the soul’s
delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace
bestow
Thou in toil art comfort
sweet
Pleasant coolness in the
heat
Solace in the midst of
woe.
Light immortal, light
divine,
Visit thou these hearts
of thine,
And our inmost being
fill:
If thou take thy grace
away,
Nothing pure in man will
stay
All his good is turned to
ill.
Heal our wounds, our
strength renew
On our dryness pour thy
dew
Wash the stains of guilt
away:
Bend the stubborn heart
and will
Melt the frozen, warm the
chill
Guide the steps that go
astray.
Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee
adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts
descend:
Give us comfort when we
die
Give us life with thee on
high
Give us joys that never
end.
Gospel
Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill
the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to John, First Reading – John 7:37-39
'If
Any Man is Thirsty, Let Him Come To Me!'
On the last day and
greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:
‘If any man is thirsty,
let him come to me!
Let the man come and
drink who believes in me!’
As scripture says: From
his breast shall flow fountains of living water.
He was speaking of the Spirit which those who
believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus
had not yet been glorified.
The Gospel According to John, Second
Reading – John 14:15-16,23-26
The Holy Spirit Will Teach
You Everything
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.
I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate to be with you for ever.
‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my
Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with
you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will
teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
The Gospel According to John, Third
Reading – John 15:26-27,16:12-15 ©
The
Spirit of Truth Will Lead You to the Complete Truth
Jesus
said to his disciples:
‘When
the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness.
And
you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the outset.
‘I
still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now.
But
when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he
will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and
he will tell you of the things to come.
He
will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine.
Everything
the Father has is mine; that is why I said:
All
he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’in my power to take it up again; and
this is the command I have been given by my Father.’
A Homily – Pentecost, A Holy Day of Obligation (Year C)
