Gospel Reflection – Sunday of Pentecost, June 8, 2025

Dear brothers and sisters, peace and blessings to you all.

With the celebration of Pentecost, the Easter season comes to an end. We’ve spent a long time getting ready—first with Lent, then we lived through Holy Week, and after that, the seven weeks of Easter. Every Sunday, the Liturgy has helped us enter into the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Fifty days after Easter, this special season ends. When we started Lent, Pentecost seemed so far away! But time flies, and now it’s a good moment to look back, examine our conscience, and see if we’ve really lived up to the promises we made (those Lenten resolutions like praying more, being kinder, quitting smoking, spending less time in front of the TV and more time with our families or community). Maybe now is the time, as young people say, to “get moving” again—because there’s still a lot to do. We need to truly welcome the Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, the story of Jesus’ death ends with these words: “He bowed his head and gave up the spirit.” When the Gospels were written, there were no lowercase or uppercase letters. So we don’t know if the author meant “spirit” with a capital “S” or a lowercase one. Maybe he meant both. In fact, one of the unique things about this Gospel is how it often uses words that have more than one meaning—not to confuse us, but to open up a deeper richness of interpretation.

So today, let’s not be afraid to see both meanings. On one hand, Jesus gives his final breath. On the other, he hands over the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to us.

The disciples might have been thinking: “What will we do without you? How can we go on? Everything will fall apart!” But Jesus said something surprising: “It is better for you that I go, because if I don’t go, I cannot send you the Spirit of truth.” To be able to say “Welcome!” to the Spirit, we must be willing to say a kind of “Goodbye” to Jesus in the flesh. And Jesus keeps his promise. He returns to the disciples as the Risen Lord and gives them the Holy Spirit.

So the Spirit is the mature fruit of Jesus’ Easter mystery. And thanks be to God, we all share in that fruit.

Because today is Pentecost for us too. Today we celebrate that Jesus sent us his Spirit. No historian wrote about this moment—but the world has never been the same. In the hearts of those Galileans who followed Jesus from the shores of the lake, in Mary’s heart, and in the hearts of the women and other disciples who joined along the way, everything changed when, after his death, they met him alive again—risen and in their midst.

Only a gift of divine power can change things so completely. And here’s where Saint Paul talks about the Spirit, who reaches deep into our hearts, transforms us, gives us energy for life, and the strength to be faithful to God. The result of this transformation is that we are freed from the slavery of sin.

Everything had changed—not just because they were amazed or happy, but because now they shared in the new life of Jesus. His Spirit had become their spirit. His breath, his strength, his soul. The Holy Spirit is now like a mother to us. Jesus kept his word: “I will not leave you orphaned.” We are reborn by water and the Spirit. Jesus remains with us through the Holy Spirit.

This Spirit leads us into the fullness of truth. If we let him guide us, he helps us go deeper into the mystery of God and of life. He teaches us how to discern—to separate what is useful from what is not, what brings life from what takes it away, what is true from what is false. This isn’t just a theory or a wish. It’s something we’ve seen over and over again in the lives of the saints—men and women who let themselves be guided by the Spirit. They lived with depth, passion, and joy. The gifts and fruits of the Spirit filled their lives.

Without the Spirit of God, we can’t truly pray. One of the Spirit’s gifts is piety, which helps us feel like beloved children of God and opens our hearts to listen to him, welcome him, and speak to him with the same trust Jesus had when talking to the Father. (See Romans 8:15: “The Spirit makes you God’s children.” And Galatians 4:6: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba! Father!’”)

Without the Spirit of God, we can’t bear witness to him. The Spirit makes us shine. He draws us deeper into God so we can go further out into the world. It was the Spirit who pushed the apostles to the ends of the earth. And it’s the Spirit who can help us overcome fear or laziness so that we can give witness—filled with the Holy Spirit.

Always with peace. Because the first words of the Risen Jesus are words of peace. No matter what’s going on. “When they hand you over, don’t worry about what you will say or how to say it. When the time comes, you’ll be given what to say—for it won’t be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19–20)

Always with peace.

Your brother in faith,