Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, M.A., D.Min

Earlier in this century as astronomer named, Karl Hubble, was peering through his telescope he became somewhat perplexed at what he saw. After numerous observations and calculations he contacted Albert Einstein to see if his observations were correct. What he had noticed is that the galaxies are moving away from each other at about 1 million miles per hour ! This could only mean that we live in an expanding universe, one that had a beginning and started time and space ! Extraordinary ! Now the questions arise, what will become of the universe ? What is its meaning ? How does it work ?

These questions have occupied scientists and theologians for centuries. Scientists tell us that if the force of expansion are greater than the force of gravity then the universe will continue to expand and run out of energy leading to "heat death", that is, its going to get really cold folks ! If gravity is stronger, the universe will contract in the "big crunch" and it will get real hot--no need to travel to Florida for the winter ! But this is some billions of years away. Now one might despair of the universe if we did not live in one where God creates it, sustains it and completes. We are part of a larger drama--that is what faith tells us !

This Pentecost we once again celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit given by the Lord to the Church--that calls and inspires the whole Church to the mission of proclaiming the gospel, building community, and rendering service in charity and justice. We recall the formal birth of the Church and its mission as a special agent of the transforming work of God's Spirit. And this transforming work of the Spirit consists of sanctifying all of creation--to bring it to glorious completion in the power and reality of the risen Christ. The Church is God's special agent for this work. We see this is the big Church and the church of Small Christian Communities.

The Spirit is God's Holy Spirit that creates endless diversity that is kept in unity. And we see this reflected in the universe. While there is chaos, or creativity in one part of the universe, there is ordering in another. While there are finely tuned laws which hold all together, there is also spontaneity originating from the subatomic "quantum realm." The Spirit does this in the Church as well. God's Spirit creates many gifts, but also calls those who have the gifts to share them with the community in order to carrying the transforming mission of the Spirit in the Church.

Christ's Spirit is poured on all believers in Pentecost. It is a Spirit that embraces our totality as human beings. Or in the words of Rev. John Koenig:

To claim that the bodies of believers are now temples of the Holy Spirit means that these physical selves have been granted a solidity and destiny that they did not formerly possess. To be "in the Spirit" means that the body--especially the tongue, mind and hands--share in the eternal qualities of God. And so they are sanctified.

In essence they are the vehicles, through the vehicle of the Church, of the Spirit's sanctifying, reconciling and consummating mission and the activity in the world.

Last Tuesday evening many of our young people and seven adults were confirmed by Bishop Macaluso. By being confirmed these people committed themselves to be the Holy Spirit's agent for the sanctification of their own lives, the lives of others, human history and the creation !This is the peace of Christ in the world. This is the breath of Christ that, as St. Paul tells us, is no cowardly Spirit. It is a Spirit that inspires, provokes, compels and supports us to do our mission as the Lord's Church. It is a Spirit that judges the heart and the world in the light of the crucified and risen Lord, so that nothing and no one is lost. It is the Spirit that creates the diversity and unity in the Church if believers are willing to open to the Spirit's activity in their lives. It the Spirit that calls us to conversion !

In Pentecost, Jesus is breathing on us the very Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of creation, new creation. It is the Spirit that brings order out of chaos--a transforming Spirit that overcomes the darkness in the world and our hearts. In the words of Jurgen Moltmann:

The experience of God's Spirit is like breathing the air: God is continually breathing, as it were, upon the soul, and the soul is breathing unto God. God's Spirit is life's vibrating, vitalizing field of energy: we are in God, and God is in us....In the confidence of faith we plumb the depths of the Spirit, in love we explore its breadth, and in hope its open horizons. God's Spirit is our space for living."

Precisely ! The answer to the questions of modern science and human religious meaning is nothing other than the very breath of God--the breath of the crucified and risen One present in the Church in a very special way as Christ' body in the world. A church that brings the transforming power of Pentecost to the world, the very Peace of Christ !