THE NEW AND HEAVENLY WINE

THE PENTECOST SUNDAY

Act 2:1-11; Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34; Rom 8:8-17; Jn 20:19-23

The Fresh Wine and Fresh Wineskins

We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit formally on the apostles and disciples of our Lord. According to the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus gave his apostles and disciples gathered in a room out of fear of the Jews the gift of the Holy Spirit. “Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The Gospel of Luke informs us that as Jesus was ascending, he asked them to remain in Jerusalem until they received the promised gift of the Holy Spirit from the Father. The fulfilment of the promise is what Saint Luke presented in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. “When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting: and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.” We understand the two events as complementary.

The sacrifice of the Son of Man, which comprises his life and death, redeemed us from the bondage of sin and evil. He paid the ransom for our cleansing and salvation, thereby purchasing us for God his Father. His resurrection is the proof of the completion of the work of salvation in principle. Thus, there is now nothing preventing us from receiving the Holy Spirit and sharing the life of God. Therefore, his gift of the Holy Spirit at his resurrection, as John recorded, was appropriate. In principle, they received the Holy Spirit when the Son, in his risen humanity, breathed on them and extended his Spirit to them. The gift of the Son was to prepare them for the full reception of the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost day. On this day, the Father formally sent the Holy Spirit to inaugurate the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ. The two gifts are similar to our reception of the Holy Spirit at baptism and our full reception of him at our confirmation. The coming of the Holy Spirit into our souls at baptism is to cleanse us through the blood of the Lamb and make us a suitable dwelling place for God. He regenerates us at baptism to be a new wineskin, into which he pours the new wine to the full. The formal pouring of the Holy Spirit into us as new wineskin is at confirmation. What is regenerated is filled and consolidated at confirmation.

The apostles and disciples that Jesus Christ has washed clean by his passion and death and given new spiritual birth through their profession of faith, by which they now become part of his members, were activated for the mission of Jesus Christ and unleashed on all peoples and nations. God empowered them by the Holy Spirit to make an impact on the people of all nations and races by the gift of languages. “They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language?” The gift of the Holy Spirit makes the life and power of God present in us, which is the new wine. It is a new wine because it is entirely a new thing or reality, which intoxicates our human minds and drives our wills into action, just as the effect that wine has on us. To contain this rare gift of God’s life, God fashions us into a new wineskin, different from the old. A new human nature that received the Incarnate Word.

The reality of a shared life or the Body of Jesus Christ is the content of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. The coming of the Paraclete changes our interest or desire in life; our interest becomes that of Jesus Christ, whose life we now share by sharing his Holy Spirit. “In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified.” The spirit that God generates in us is life. Jesus Christ is the life; hence, the spirit is Jesus Christ living in us, as Paul further explained. The Holy Spirit makes us inherit God with Jesus Christ. The more we grow in the knowledge of the Son and participation in his Spirit, the more we are immersed in God’s life. “The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his suffering so as to share his glory.” So, the Holy Spirit makes us take up the ministry of Jesus Christ to fulfil the will of the Father in the world. The gift of utterance he gives to us is that we may proclaim the Gospel to others.

Let us pray: O God, who by the mystery of today’s great feast sanctify your whole Church in every people and nation, pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth and, with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed, fill now once more the hearts of believers. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.