Dear Parishioners,

The following sonnet by the Irish poet John O’Donohue offers an eloquent and rich poetic expression to multiple dimensions of the Pentecost Event.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Somewhere in our clay remembers the speed of cold,
Overtaking the surge of colours with grey breath,
And the shudder of fields, as they smother beneath
The white infinity of ice paralyzing the world.

How swiftly fear touches this relic-cold in the bone.
After his second going, they hide from the crowd.
Then, like manna from a red wind, a tongue of flame swirls
Into each mind huddled there in the fear filled room.

The language caul they lived in falls, leaves them wordless,
Then a kindling, words they never knew they had come
Alive out of nowhere sprung with awakening
That will not cease until winter sets the heart free.

Out in the open now, voices of new beginning,
Needing no courage beyond the fire of their longing.

In his sonnet O’Donohue contrasts a spiritual state characterized by lifelessness, cold and fear with one that is characterized by fire and heat, courage and boldness. The first condition is the early church prior to Pentecost – the apostles huddled remotely by themselves, paralyzed by fear and frozen by bland inactivity. But the descent of God’s Spirit 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus brings about a radical transformation that propels these once cowardly disciples into courageous evangelizers who cannot help but proclaim the possibilities that are now available to the world. It is a new beginning for the disciples of Jesus and for the Christian church that will subsequently unfold at an amazing pace because of the divine breath that the Holy Spirit unleashed upon them.

It would be a sad misunderstanding, however, to conclude that this event that occurred 2000 years ago in an upper room in Jerusalem was a once in a lifetime moment in history that we only read about on Pentecost Sunday. Our belief is that Pentecost is an ongoing occurrence that continues to transform that which (in our lives and in the life of the church) is frozen by fear, paralyzed by grief or dead. God’s “Pentecost Promise” is one of endless possibilities that we are invited to take advantage of so that the Kingdom, which Jesus inaugurated in his earthly ministry, might live on in ways that we could never have imagined. All too often we human beings are limited in our perspectives and in our actions. God, however, is never limited.

And so as we bring the Easter Season to solemn closure today on Pentecost Sunday, which is sometimes called “The Birthday of the Church,” we might hearken to the Holy Spirit’s invitation to trust in that creative power that can enliven, empower and embolden all of us who dare to believe that God is alive.

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