Pentecost 05

Pentecost
May 15, 2005

"...And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues... Are not all these people.who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of them hear us speaking in their own language?" (Acts 2:1-11) There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. (1 Corinthians 12:3-13)

Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world. These remarkable passages express a familiar theme found throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. God's life and love are available for all human beings, not just for our own people. Our communities of faith have always had a difficult time accepting this truth in our Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit's gifts are as numerous and diverse as all human beings and cultures. We all find ourselves at times criticizing people who talk, think and act different than we think they should. We seem to operate on the assumption that the world would be a better place if everyone was just like me. The multiplicity of gifts among us, an infallible sign of the Holy Spirit's presence, ought to have just the reverse effect.

Of course we cherish our own traditions of faith, with which we are most familiar. The challenge is to try to imagine what the world would be like if we really embraced the idea that truth is not completely contained by any single theology or religious tradition. If we could, perhaps we might not be so concerned about drawing tight theological boundaries around our own little versions of religious rightness, and then claiming that it must be so for all. The Catholic tradition, expressed recently by Vatican Council II, is quite clear about this. All those who sincerely seek the truth (God) are linked to the church. Religious diversity is a sign that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the human community just as it is within our own religious families.

The more we learn about the natural world, the more we are impressed with its incredible diversity of life. We human beings are quite successful at adapting to life all over the globe. Sometimes this success seems to be at the expense of this diversity in nature and culture. Competition to improve automobile performance, for example, has made all of them look pretty much the same. Success in producing enough food for everyone threatens the natural variety of crop species. In spite of this, variety and diversity will abound thanks to the promise that the Spirit will always be with us. The Holy Spirit reveals much to us when we are willing to keep our minds and hearts open to the multiplicity and unity of truth and love.