Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Daily Missal May-June 2024
Pentecost Sunday (solemnity) (B)
proper
Evening Mass with the prolonged celebration of the Vigil
FIRST READING
From the Book of Genesis (Gn 11:1-9)
The whole world had one language and the same words. As they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in fire.” The bricks served them as stone, and bitumen as mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over all the earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the children of man were building. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people and they all have one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth. - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the first reading
The work of the Holy Spirit seeks to bring to completion in us the image and likeness of God impressed upon us in creation, while worldly logic seeks self-fulfillment through forgetfulness and indifference toward God, as though he were unworthy of any interest in human life, just as happened with the building of the Tower of Babel. Human beings continue to want to build the Tower of Babel through their own strength, to reach God’s height by themselves, to be like God. Babel is the anti-Pentecost that generates despair and lack of communication: people will never find themselves by remaining closed in on themselves, but only by going outside themselves. It is absurd to live in order to make a name for oneself by building a foolish tower, but it is not impossible to spend one’s life doing so. It is not impossible to live for possessions and vanity, wasting one’s life; on the contrary, it is rather common. In the end, everyone speaks the language of their own tower. God comes to our aid by visiting us with the sting of loneliness so that the longing for a greater good may awaken in us.
SECOND READING
From the Book of Exodus (Ex 19:3-8a, 16-20b)
In those days, Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying: “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine! You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” On the third day, as morning dawned, there were thunders and lightning flashes, a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast; all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; its smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice. The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. -
The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the second reading
“You yourselves have seen […] how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” By lifting us up, the Lord has taught us to know him better. The eagle’s wings are an image of greatness, expressing how we have been carried upward by the divine power of love that we ourselves have experienced. “Good,” says the Lord now, “now that you have arrived, if you wish, we can make a covenant, we can enter into an agreement so that you may be my ‘treasured possession among all peoples.’” The term God uses for “possession” (segullāh) is the one shepherds used to designate the group of sheep that belonged specifically to them. God chose a people to be his people, not to exclude others, but because through them he wishes to reach all the other peoples. “I have chosen you,” says the Lord, “to reach the rest of the world together with you.” Accepting this covenant means becoming “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In the new covenant, all this has become true for the Church.
THIRD READING
From the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ez 37:1-14)
In those days, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord brought me out in the spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. He made me pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many upon the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the Lord.’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And as I looked, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: ‘Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it,’ declares the Lord God.” - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the third reading
What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that God’s love is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that God’s love can transform our lives and make those desert places in our hearts blossom. This is what Easter is: the exodus, humanity’s passage from the slavery of sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Christ died and rose once and for all and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection - this passage from the slavery of evil to the freedom of goodness - must take place in every age, in the concrete circumstances of our existence, in our daily lives. How many deserts must human beings cross, even today! Above all, the desert within us, when love for God and neighbor is lacking, when we lack awareness that we are stewards of everything the Creator has given and continues to give us. Yet God’s mercy can make even the driest land blossom; it can restore life to dried-up bones. Let us allow God’s power to transform our lives as well, so that we may become instruments of this mercy.
FOURTH READING
From the Book of the Prophet Joel (Jl 3:1-5)
Thus says the Lord: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.” - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the fourth reading
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” To prophesy means to truly be instruments of divine action. The prophet is the instrument through which God works, speaks, and acts, thereby shaping human history. The message is clear and, at the same time, startling: God lives through us. This is our vocation: to allow God to act freely through all that we are. As an ancient prayer says, “we are the only Bible that peoples still read, we are God’s last message written in works and words.” There is a moment in the Mass when we are invited to relive this self-offering: the offertory. Padre Pio said that the offertory is the moment when the soul is separated from the profane. At that moment, enlightened by the Word, we offer ourselves to God: the body, the spirit, everything that will happen to us during the day, life, sufferings, pains, requests, everything. Thus we enter into God’s plan with our freedom, saying to him: all of life is yours; take it, receive it, transform me into yourself.
EPISTLE
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Rom 8:22-27)
Brothers and sisters, we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings; and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the Epistle
“In hope […] we were saved.” Precisely so. Christian hope never disappoints because it is rooted in the love that God himself has for each one of us. Christian hope is certainty about the future through the gift of grace that we already experience in the present; it is not simply something, but someone, just as Francis of Assisi sings in the Praises of God Most High: “You are our hope!” Hope has the face and name of Jesus. If this were not so, it would merely be a beautiful dream, but one of which we have no certainty. Hope is beautiful: it is the theological virtue infused in us by God, which gives us great strength to walk through life. Hope is contagious: if our hearts are full of it, they cannot contain it, but feel that it must reach everyone. The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness, kindles the heart, prays in us, works, transforms everything, and opens before us the horizon of hope and full redemption, as we await the fulfillment of the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 7:37-39)
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the Gospel of the day
The Holy Spirit is the driving force of Christian life. There is an indescribable power in the image of Jesus standing and crying out loudly: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” The image then suggested regarding Christ’s heart is that of a heart becoming a spring, the source of the gift of the Spirit. It is characteristic of the Spirit to make our hearts, in the image of Christ’s heart, a spring of love, prayer, and witness. Perhaps we need to rethink the way we imagine the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, said a monk, does not fill hearts to stuff them like geese or inflate them like soccer balls, but to make them a source of love and prayer. More than a filling, what the Spirit accomplishes in us is an emptying, so that he may spring forth in us, as in Christ’s heart, with a selfless love. To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, we must empty ourselves, like Mary, the mystical bride of the Holy Spirit.
At the Mass of the day
FIRST READING
From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11)
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own native language? We are Parthians and Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians - we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the first reading
On the day of Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit blazes in the hearts of the apostles, who begin to speak tirelessly and joyfully about Jesus. The disciples are together in the Upper Room, in this “great hall” where the hour of the deepest union with God strikes. The Upper Room is a place that is “already prepared” and yet must also be prepared; it is a Eucharistic place, a priestly place, a miraculous and missionary place. It is the place of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Outside the Upper Room there is a crowd amazed and astonished to hear, in its own language, the account of God’s mighty works. Whenever the Spirit intervenes, the world is left astonished. The beautiful thing is that Pentecost does not belong to yesterday, but is the today of the Church; it is not something confined to a feast, since God’s eternal love cannot be confined to a time. On the day of Pentecost, human language becomes the language of the Holy Spirit. In the Church, as in every community, this miracle must always be renewed. It is more urgent than ever to throw open the doors to the Spirit.
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (Gal 5:16-25)
Brothers and sisters, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the second reading
We must no longer live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit: this is the first thing the Lord tells us. We must live an entirely divine life. Saint Paul expresses the heart of the Gospel: salvation comes through Jesus by faith, that is, through total adherence to the person of Jesus. For this reason, Christians have received a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, which makes us children and no longer slaves, but free. The Gospel thus becomes God’s power for salvation, a faith that requires submission to Jesus as Lord and openness to the Spirit; for this reason, he exhorts Christians to live according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the flesh. Let us allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit; let us invoke him in our lives every day: only with his help can we overcome our difficulties, chains, and temptations. Love, peace, joy, and self-control do not come from the flesh or from our efforts, but directly from the Holy Spirit whom we invoke day after day. At the end of every Mass, the invitation to go in peace is an invitation to “walk by the Spirit.” The purpose of the Mass is none other than for us to walk in a new life.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” - The word of the Lord.
Reflection on the Gospel of the day
In the gift of the Holy Spirit, every soul’s encounter with God is fulfilled; or rather, it is not simply an encounter, but the mystery of each one of us personally participating in the intimate life of God is realized. Through the gift of the Spirit, we have been drawn into the bosom of the divine Trinity. How can a person be content to be merely human? Even while aware of all our limitations, we are called to open the abyss of our soul to welcome God within us, to feel “filled” with him. He always fills with himself; God alone can fill. This is the mystery of Pentecost. We live God’s gift amid the mystery of a poor life. We are truly filled and led by the irruption of the Holy Spirit into the whole truth. The truth is not a definition about life, but a living person; it is Jesus. The Spirit unites us intimately to him and enables us to live the life of eternity. What is the life of eternity if not the life of God? This is our vocation: Trinitarian life. Each one of us is called to live the life of God. Our vocation is God himself: to be him, to live him. This is what our vocation calls us to.
