Pentecost (Year C) – Homily (2025)

Pentecost
Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 34 (30)
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
June 8, 2025

Before the people began to build the tower of Babel, “the whole world spoke the same language” (see Genesis 11:1-9).  The people decided, “Come, let us build a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves.” 

In seeking to make a name for themselves, they focused on the material things of this world instead of focusing on the spiritual treasures that God offers us. 

In seeking to make a name for themselves, they committed the sin of pride. 

Sin comes with consequences. 

For their sin, God confused their language so they no longer understood each other.  Thus, was the place named “Babel.”  Unable to understand one another, they stopped building the tower and scattered. 

Our human plans that do not follow God’s plan do not end in true success.  Why? 

When we make our own plans, God lets us go our own way but we do so without his help.  Without God, we do not succeed. 

On the other hand, when we seek to fulfill God’s plan, He stands at our side and provides what we need.  We do well to trust in God’s plan and in his Law.  They are what is best for us. 

During the Exodus, the Israelites agreed to keep the Commandments that God gave them.  They knew them to be good but it was not long before they broke the commandments in sin. 

We sin, yet hope remains.  Hope remains not based on our own efforts but on God’s.  We have hope in the midst of our sin because Jesus Christ willingly laid down his life as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He did this because He loves us.  In this act of his love, we are given hope. 

We do well to never take his love for granted.

Remember, sin brings death.

When we repent of our sins, God will forgive us and send forth his Spirit to renew us and to renew the face of the earth.  He will give us living water, living water that is the Holy Spirit.

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit was first received at the first Pentecost.  It is the same Holy Spirit that we receive in Baptism and are sealed with at Confirmation. 

As Jesus ascended to Heaven, He told his disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit.  They waited for ten days. 

At times, we struggle to be aware of the Spirit’s action in our own lives.

When the Holy Spirit came, it did so in ways that the disciples could clearly recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit came as a “strong driving wind,” strong symbolizes the power of God.  The wind reminded us of how God breathed life into man at creation (see Genesis 2:7). 

The Holy Spirit appeared as “tongues of fire.”  The image of fire can be reminiscent of when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush (see Exodus 3).  The image of fire should lead to think of a cleansing fire, by which we are cleansed of our sins.

The image of “tongues” points us back to the Tower of Babel where God confused the language of the people for their sins.  Now, God sends forth the Holy Spirit to “renew the face of the earth” and the people are once again able to understand one another.  When sin had broken, the Holy Spirit restores. 

In the descent of the Holy Spirit, God fulfilled the promise He had made through the prophet Joel, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 3:1).   We can count on the promises God makes to us and is another reason for our hope.

What sin had broken, the Holy Spirit renews such that all heard the disciples speaking in their own tongues “of the mighty acts of God.”  Even today our Catholic Church seeks to offer Mass in every language.

Do you remain in the flesh?  Are you stuck in worldly ways?  Are you stuck in sin? 

Or do you confess your sin, repent, and allow yourselves to be renewed to live in the spirit?

We need the Holy Spirit for as Paul writes, “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”  If we want to follow Jesus, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to be at work in us.

We need to look beyond ourselves. 

Paul writes, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.”  What we are given is not just for us as individuals.  No, we are called to be part of something greater. 

Together, we are many parts, yet with the Holy Spirit, we are one body.  We are called to work together. 

When you are faced with a decision, is the first question you ask, “what’s in it for me?” 

It is time to let go of that.  The question we need to ask ourselves how is God calling us to use what He has given me to help build his kingdom in accord with his plan.  After all, in the Lord’s Prayer, we say “thy kingdom come.”  Do we mean it?

Listen to what the Spirit is saying to you.

If you would like to hear more about the Holy Spirit,
please see Fr. Jeff’s new presentation from Thursday at
https://renewaloffaith.org/the-holy-spirit/.