＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 2:1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appearedtongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amaze­ment and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Gali­leans? 

How is it that we hear them in our own native language? Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopo­tamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phry­gia, Pam­phylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cy­rene, and visitors from Rome,

Both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Savior, does.

 

Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31-34

Lord send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

I tell you that nobody inspired by the Spirit of God may say, “A curse on Jesus,” as no one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

The Spirit reveals his presence in each one with a gift that is also a service.  As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptized in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 20:19-23

On the evening of that day, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews, but Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace be with you”; then he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy.

 Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said to them, “Re­ceive the Holy Spirit; for those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Read:

The Church is born today. The Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised to his disciples had finally come, descending upon the apostolic band in a way they could have hardly imagined. And it filled them with tremendous power and zeal for the Gospel.

Reflect:

One can almost feel and taste the power, strength, and zeal that the experience of the Holy Spirit’s coming gave the apostles as we read the passages for today’s Mass. No wonder these men and women couldn’t contain themselves and simply went out there and preached the Good News with no hesitation, no worries, no anxieties, no fear whatsoever.

It was like they were new persons; and in a very real sense, they were – for they had been filled with the fire that only the Holy Spirit can give. This fire continues to animate and embolden the church, two thousand years after the Spirit came to rest on the apostles.

Pray:

Lord, grant that I may feel the fire of your Holy Spirit, just as your apostles did two thousand years ago. May it give me the courage to proclaim the Good News with all the power and strength I can muster. Let me spend the rest of my life proclaiming your salvation.

Act:

Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit before any endeavor, most especially one that involves witnessing to your faith in Jesus Christ.