A police cadet, about to graduate from the Police Academy, was asked during his final oral exam, “What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?”
Immediately, he replied, “I’d call for backup.”
On this Feast of Pentecost, I suggest that we view the Holy Spirit as our backup.
The expression, “I’ve got your back,” means you are watching out for someone. You are making sure another person is safe by being attentive to what is behind or around them. When someone has your back, they are there to support you unconditionally.
Simply stated, when someone has your back, your life is greatly enhanced. You can take risks. You can do things that weren’t possible before.
The Holy Spirit has our back.
It is clearly exemplified in today’s Gospel. You might picture the Holy Spirit as a dove. Personally, I think the Holy Spirit is more like one of the wild geese at Burnt Cedar Beach, causing a commotion and making things happen.
Just look at what occurred to the men and women who were in the famous “restaurant” known as the Upper Room. They had locked the door because they were afraid. They feared for their lives. They were hiding from those who had murdered Jesus, no doubt afraid that they would be next.
When the glorified Christ penetrated the locked doors and appeared to them, Jesus did not explain how He got through the doors, and they did not ask.
According to today’s Gospel from John, what were Jesus’s first words? He was kind and thoughtful enough to calm their fears and take away their anxiety by saying, “Peace be with you.”
His greeting was not an empty salutation. It was a gift. And the disciples rejoiced.
Then Jesus gave them a second gift.
With His hands raised, the glorified Christ prayed this blessing: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven to them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
In other words, receive the Spirit of Forgiveness. As I forgive you, you MUST forgive one another. The sins you forgive are forgiven, but the sins, or the people you refuse to forgive are not.
We are commanded to be forgivers.
Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, these frightened people in the “Upper Room Restaurant” overcame their fear and became courageous missionary disciples. They knew the Holy Spirit had their back. They lived the Great Commission to go, to make disciples, to baptize and to teach.
They spread the message of Jesus and the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. They spoke to people from many nations and many cultures, and somehow each person heard the message in their own language.
The received the gifts of the Spirit, called charisms. We all have some of them, and the challenge is to discover them, identify them and use them. St. Paul insists that these spiritual gifts are never meant only for the individual but always for the common good.
St. Paul makes it clear in today’s second reading that the same Holy Spirit gives different spiritual gifts to different people. No wonder there is so much diversity in the Catholic Church:
This diversity in our Church is a tremendous strength, even though it can sometimes cause tension. We are called Catholic because we are, by definition, universal and because we believe that every single person on this earth has intrinsic value and is loved by God.
On this Pentecost weekend, we are invited to reflect on how the Holy Spirit has our back. And because of this, I believe that Jesus Christ has just as much faith in you as He did in the first apostles.
If we truly believe that the Holy Spirit has our back, as He did for the first disciples, then we, too, can have a personal relationship with Jesus.
To have a personal relationship with Jesus, I must choose to experience Him in my life. It is not forced on me. I make the decision to model my life after Christ. I intentionally and deliberately choose to live and practice my faith, to be an enthusiastic disciple. Jesus is my Lord and my Savior.
We need a personal Pentecost. One in which the Holy Spirit fills each of us with the same enthusiasm that energized those frightened apostles hiding in the upper room.
We need Pentecost so we can realize that we are not pew parishioners, but intentional disciples.
Pope Francis once said, “Faith is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, with whom we can experience friendship, forgiveness and love.”
I encourage you to pray this prayer of love for Jesus:
“I love you Jesus, now and forever, unconditionally. In my words and my deeds.”
Repeat that quietly to yourself now.
When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, amazing things happen.
The Holy Spirit always has your back!
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