Pentecost 2025 - June 8
Pentecost
June 8, 2025
On this Pentecost Sunday we read how the spirit came upon the disciples:
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
This scene recalls the creation in the first chapter of Genesis:
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.
The spirit comes into our lives as a strong creating wind. The spirit is all about creating something new.
The world and the disciples were changed by the spirit.
Yet when the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples we appeared with the visible signs of his crucifixion. His hands and side still bore the marks of his crucifixion.
We are given an answer to this question in our second reading from I Corinthians:
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.
If only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
We suffer with Christ and in doing so we are glorified with him. At the end of the gospel Jesus gives the disciples the mission to forgive sins and retain sins. Forgiveness is painful. We give forgiveness before the hurt of the offense has gone away, it may never go away. The spirit allows us to forgive others and in doing so we experience the glory of our God. Like Christ we may retain the signs of our suffering, but we go forward to forgive and to experience glory.
Like the spirit in Genesis, the resurrected Christ breathed on them giving them the spirit. The spirit comes again as breath of God.
On this Pentecost day we go forward to feel the breath of the spirit in our lives and we take that spirit to offer forgiveness to others and in doing so we experience the glory of our God.
