Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34; First Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23;

The Church’s first Pentecost had some spectacular fireworks. The Apostles and other Christians were gathered “in one place together”.  We don’t know exactly where. Probably it was somewhere inside or near the Temple in Jerusalem, since right after the fireworks, crowds started to gather. It may have been the same large room where Jesus and the Apostles had eaten the Last Supper. We are not certain.

So they were all in one place, and then a thunderous noise like a strong wind, like a tornado, came from the sky. And then flames appeared. Flames of fire just appeared out of nowhere, spontaneously, hovering in the air. And these flames divided up and started floating through the air until they came to rest on each of the people gathered. But the fireworks didn’t stop there. All of a sudden the Christians started speaking in languages that they didn’t know. A crowd had gathered by now, with visitors from all over the world who were in Jerusalem for the festival. Each one heard the Christians explaining the gospel in their own language.

It was a dramatic, spectacular display. But we would be wrong to conclude from this that the Holy Spirit’s normal way of acting in our life is through dramatic fireworks. In fact, it’s just the opposite. God’s action in our life is most often gentle and hardly perceptible at first. How does Jesus send the Spirit to his Apostles after his resurrection? He breathes on them – quietly and subtly. How does St Paul describe the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church? Like the soul of a body – powerful, essential, but invisible and subtle. The Holy Spirit works quietly.