Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. Jesus had assured his disciples that He would send His gift of the Spirit from the Father to be their comforter and advocate and that this Holy Spirit would do many things for them that they themselves would be unable to do. Just as he had promised, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and filled them with new power. They were no longer afraid. They spoke boldly and moved with courage and compassion to bring the good news of Jesus to the world.

Our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) tells us that the disciples experienced a new courage, a harmony, a unity, and a fellowship that they had never dreamed of! They were from different territories, they were of different backgrounds, and they spoke different languages. But they understood each other! The disharmony, the disunity and the brokenness and confusion that people experienced at Babel was reversed…at Babel they began to speak many languages and they could not understand each other anymore…at Pentecost, they spoke different languages and they understood each other…the Holy Spirit brought about a communion of cultures and peoples. 

I remember an interesting story about the nature of the Holy Spirit. A little girl had gone to Sunday School. On her return, her mother asked her what she learned in Sunday School. “We learned about the “Holy Quilt,” said the little girl. “Holy Quilt! What does that mean?” the mother exclaimed. When the girl explained what she learned, the mother realized that the girl had just got the words confused. The words were “Holy Comforter” and not “Holy Quilt.” The Holy Spirit is the comforter because he comes with courage and makes us comfortable, free, and unafraid. The word comfort comes from Latin, “cum and fortis” (with + courage). The Holy Spirit came with courage and empowered the disciples to go out and proclaim the Gospel.

Even the idea of a “Hoy Quilt” gives us good insight into the very nature and work of the Holy Spirit. With a classic quilt, the top layer is made of different pieces of fabric sewn together in either a grid or a more complex design in many delightful colors and sizes and shapes. The Holy spirit holds us all together, people of different colors, cultures and nationalities and forms us into one body, the body of Christ – in beautiful colors, shapes, and sizes. The Church is in a sense a “Holy Quilt” - people of different backgrounds, colors, cultures, languages, sizes, and shapes formed and transformed by the Holy Spirit into one body, the Body of Christ.

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the links below…