TODAY WE CELEBRATE what is often referred to as the birthday of the Church. Happy birthday to all! It’s the Feast of Pentecost! We celebrate by wearing red today, or traditional clothing from our culture of origin. As we enter the doors of the church this weekend, sit in our seats, exchange the Sign of Peace, and share a sacred meal, we bring to completion the celebration of the Paschal Mystery – the suffering, death, resurrection, ascension and coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples. Today’s feast of Pentecost reminds us what being a Christian is all about. It is a call to holiness and wholeness together. We are a people representing many languages, cultures, histories, and colors. Together, we are more vibrant and more Spirit-filled.
Fr. Richard Rohr, the great spiritual writer of our time, describes Pentecost not as a private holiness, but as connectedness with others. Rohr quotes the words of St. Peter, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart, who have been called out of darkness into this wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all; now you are the very people of God.” (1 Peter 2:9-10) Jesus’ image of discipleship is the Reign of God and the Kingdom of God. St. Paul’s uses the image of the Body of Christ. St. John’s Gospel speaks of a journey into a mystical union where “I and the Father are one.” (John 14:20) All of these writers give similar reasons for why we look for a communal image of our relationship with God, because an individual image cannot carry God’s glory and greatness alone. Our relationship with God provides us with an open, relational invitation to become more whole and holy.
Here at Holy Family Catholic Community, we all play an important role in how we structure our lives, respect one another, receive questions openly, honor our differences, practice hospitality and generosity, and work for justice in all our relationships in the world. Richard Rohr reminds us that built into every one of us is a “human becoming…an incompleteness, set on a trajectory of personal growth and formation. God creates us as finite, limited, and dependent creatures.”
Pentecost invites us to growth in love with God and others as we learn to be and become more loving and hospitable in our daily lives. As we become more loving, more just, more compassionate, more merciful, and more generous, we are also becoming more integrated into the life of God made possible by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. As we become more whole and holy, we become more like Christ.
Although we are all created to be and become the image of God for one another, becoming whole and holy is not guaranteed or automatic. It takes time, attention, and intentionality. We can aid in this process by creating contexts more amenable to Christian formation — contexts that invite questions, hold our tensions with a loving embrace, respecting our doubts, and trusting in the Spirit’s work in the life of all God’s people. The reading of Sacred Scripture, serving together, prayer, worship, meditation, and self-reflection are just a few practices from our tradition that are given to our parish community as gifts of God for our formation and faithful living.
As we celebrate together the birthday of the Church, may we celebrate how Holy Family Catholic Community participates with God is bringing all people together as one holy and whole family. May we also seek healing and forgiveness from God for the ways in which the Church has, at times, failed to be inclusive of the differences of one another who are made in the image and likeness of God. May this healing and reconciliation cross all the barriers that divide us – such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, marital status – which can impinge on our lives as we work for complete wholeness and holiness.