Homily – Pentecost – Year A – Fr Jeremiah Browne (National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies #southafrica #Botswana #eswatini #swaziland)
Pentecost invites us to look honestly at the world around us and, perhaps even more importantly, at our own hearts. Almost every day we are confronted with signs of division. We hear harsh words spoken about others. We see prejudice, anger, intolerance and suspicion. Sometimes it is loud and obvious; sometimes it hides beneath humour, sarcasm, or quiet assumptions we barely notice in ourselves.
From our earliest years we are shaped by the families, cultures and communities we belong to. Often without realising it, we begin to divide the world into “us” and “them.” We make assumptions about people because of race, nationality, age, background, or social status. The tragedy is that once we stop seeing the person in front of us as a brother or sister, it becomes easier to dismiss, exclude or wound them.
Yet the message of Pentecost is precisely the opposite. Pentecost is about God drawing people together. It is about the Holy Spirit breaking down walls that human beings so easily build.
In today’s first reading (Acts 2:1–11), people from every nation under heaven gather in Jerusalem. They speak different languages, come from different cultures and backgrounds, and yet through the power of the Holy Spirit they begin to understand one another. The miracle of Pentecost is not simply that the apostles could speak in different tongues. The deeper miracle is that division gives way to communion. Fear gives way to courage. Strangers become brothers and sisters.
Pentecost is the great reversal of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9). At Babel humanity became divided because pride and self-interest replaced God. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit restores unity because people open themselves once more to God’s presence. The Spirit creates communion where there had been fragmentation.
That same Spirit shaped the life and mission of Jesus. When Jesus entered our world, he stepped into a society deeply divided by status, wealth, religion and power. Yet again and again he crossed boundaries. He sat at table with sinners and outcasts. He touched the untouchable. He spoke with those others avoided. He reminded people that dignity does not come from status or success, but from being loved by God.
Saint Paul carries this message into the early Church. In today’s second reading (1 Corinthians 12:3–7,12–13), Paul reminds us that although we are many parts, we are one body in Christ. The Holy Spirit gives different gifts, but always for the good of all. The Spirit never creates division or superiority. The Spirit always draws people towards unity, healing and service.
This is where Pentecost becomes deeply personal. The Holy Spirit is not simply a symbol or an idea from long ago. The Spirit is God alive within us now. The same Spirit that descended upon the apostles has been given to us. The Spirit strengthens us when we are afraid, challenges us when we become comfortable, and sends us out on mission.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). Pentecost is not only about receiving the Spirit; it is about being sent. We are entrusted with the mission of carrying Christ’s love into a wounded and divided world.
That mission begins in ordinary ways. It begins with the refusal to speak cruelly about others. It begins with listening instead of judging. It begins with welcoming those who feel excluded, forgiving those who have hurt us, and standing alongside those who are struggling. The Holy Spirit works quietly through hearts willing to love generously.
Today our world desperately needs a new Pentecost. It needs people who are willing to model another way of living. People whose words heal rather than wound. People who build bridges rather than deepen divisions. People who remind others that we belong to one another because we belong to God.
So today let us pray for a deeper openness to the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit give us the courage to confront prejudice in ourselves, the wisdom to recognise Christ in others, and the strength to live the mission entrusted to us.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.
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Please consider praying a decade of the rosary on a daily basis for the evangelising Mission of the Church and the Pope’s intentions.
The pope’s prayer intention for May is “That everyone might have food”
Let us pray that everyone, from large producers to small consumers, be committed to avoid wasting food, and to ensure that everyone has access to quality food.
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Blessed Pauline Jaricot, Pray for us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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