Dear Friends,
Sunday’s feast is Pentecost, the remembrance of the Spirit’s descent on the disciples. In the Pentecost story, we hear that the disciples can communicate with listeners of many cultures and nations. The milling festival crowds in Jerusalem heard the Jesus story in their own tongues. They were amazed.
Equally amazed are the disciples. These men and women are still reeling from the experience of Jesus’ departure. The Spirit is transforming them from mourners to preachers and pushes them out in mission. When they tell the Jesus story, their listeners hear and many respond.
Pope Leo interprets this story as a challenge to eliminate boundaries. I share his words for our reflection from Pentecost 2025.
Whenever God’s “breath” unites our hearts and makes us view others as our brothers and sisters, differences no longer become an occasion for division and conflict but rather a shared patrimony from which we can all draw, and which sets us all on journey together, in fraternity.
The Spirit breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred because he “teaches us all things” and “reminds us of Jesus’ words” (cf. Jn 14:26). He teaches us, reminds us, and writes in our hearts before all else the commandment of love that the Lord has made the center and summit of everything. Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for “security” zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.
You can read the full Pentecost Homily here.
In the Spirit,
Susan Schantz SSJ
