When we turn on a tap, we expect the water to flow, when we turn on a switch, we expect the light to shine, we tap a card and we expect the transaction to be paid. Yet what happens when the water does not flow, when the light does not shine or the payment is declined. We can be left feeling thirsty, in the dark and penniless. The loss can be felt more acutely not just in not being able to rely on utilities that we can take for granted but it can also be internalized into a sense of being alone, afraid and worthless.
As we join the Apostles in the Upper Room, we notice how they closed the doors and locked themselves in for fear of what may happen next. They were all too aware of the death of Jesus and the hostility that surrounded his arrest, trial and execution. They shut themselves in for fear that they could be next and that they did not have the physical resources to sustain themselves. They felt alone, isolated and besieged. Yet into this reality Jesus comes and stands in their midst. The first words he says are peace be with you. These words are not just a throwaway line but an invitation to enter a living relationship with Jesus who has risen from the dead when he showed them his wounds. They are called to meet him amid their anxiety and isolation with joy, hope and trust. The mission entrusted to them was to be present with the same peace with the Father’s love. They are called not to be caught up in the past by holding on to past hurts and grudges but discovering that they can forgive with their hearts, their minds and with their words.
Each of us is entrusted with the gift of the spoken word in how we see ourselves and others. We are gifted in many ways to undertake various tasks for the good of others and for the common good. St Paul talks about how this is given to us like water poured out for the good of others, like the light being switched on and discovering our own essential worth. St Cyril of Jerusalem uses this image that the water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water, welling up into eternal life. Water comes down from heaven as rain and although it is always the same it produces many different effects. It adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it.
We notice how the apostles are caught up by a divine fire that seems to descend like tongues of flame, that the room is filled like a rushing wind or a crashing wave, all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. From a place where they believed that the water had run dry, the darkness had engulfed them and caused them to close the world against a hostile world, they became conduits of God’s grace, people who shone the light in a world encased in night and to proclaim God news from the person who created the world.
How in this week will we seek to encounter the person of Jesus who will quench my thirst, enlighten my heart and become a person who proclaims the Good News of peace to our world? The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen and to console.
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. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen
You are a good man Fr. John.
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