Sunday, May 24, 2026
Pentecost
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
—Acts 2:1–4
In this Pentecost homily, Father Richard Rohr encourages Christians to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit as a gift that God has already given.
It’s a shame that the Holy Spirit tends to be an afterthought for many Christians. We don’t really draw upon the Spirit within us. We tend, I’m afraid, to simply go through the motions. We formally believe, but there isn’t much fire or conviction behind it, so there isn’t much service either.
In the Gospels there are two clearly distinguished baptisms. There’s the baptism with water that most of us are used to, and then there’s the baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11); that’s the one that really matters.
The water baptism that many of us received as children demands little conviction or understanding. Some parents simply do it to make their parents or grandparents happy. Until this baptism by water becomes real, until we know and rely on Jesus, and until we call upon, share, and love Jesus, we’re just going along for the ride.
We can recognize people who have had a second baptism in the Holy Spirit. They tend to be loving and lively. They want to serve others and not just be served themselves. They forgive life itself for not being everything they once hoped for. They forgive their neighbors, and they forgive themselves for not being as perfect as they would like to be.
Even though we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” I hope you know that the gift of the Spirit is already given. The Holy Spirit has already come. We all are temples of the Holy Spirit—equally, objectively, and forever! The only difference is the degree to which we know it, draw upon it, and consciously believe it. All the scriptural images of the Spirit are dynamic—flowing water, descending dove or fire, and rushing wind. If there’s rarely any movement, energy, excitement, deep love, service, forgiveness, or surrender, we can be pretty sure we aren’t living out of the Spirit. If we’re just going through the motions, we aren’t experiencing our connection to the Spirit. We would do well to fan into flame the gift we already have.
God doesn’t give the Spirit to those of us who are worthy, because none of us are worthy. God gives the Spirit in this awakened way to those who want it. On this Feast of Pentecost, quite simply, want it! Rely upon it. Know that it has already been given and live out of that trust.
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Speaking the Church into Existence
Monday, May 25, 2026
How is that each of us hears them in our own native language?
—Acts 2:8
Theologian Willie Jennings recounts how the Holy Spirit created a new community through common language:
The miracle of Pentecost is less in the hearing and much more in the speaking. Disciples speak in the mother tongues of others, not by their own design but by the Spirit’s desire. The new wine has been poured out on those unaware of just how deeply they thirsted…. This is the beginning of the miracle of Pentecost, the revolution of the intimate. This is the beginning of a community broken open by the sheer act of God, and we are yet to comprehend the extent to which God acts and is acting to break us open….
This is God touching, taking hold of tongue and voice, mind, heart, and body. This is a joining, unprecedented, unanticipated, unwanted, yet complete joining. Those gathered in prayer asked for power. They may have asked for the Holy Spirit to come, but they did not ask for this. This is real grace, untamed grace. It is the grace that replaces our fantasies of power over people with God’s fantasy for desire for people.
Through the Spirit, an intimacy with one another and with God is born:
God has come to them, on them, with them. This moment echoes Mary’s intimate moment. The Holy Spirit again overshadows. However, this similar holy action creates something different, something startling. The Spirit creates joining. The followers of Jesus are now being connected in a way that joins them to people in the most intimate space—of voice, memory, sound, body, land, and place. It is language that runs through all these matters. It is the sinew of existence of a people. My people, our language: to speak a language is to speak a people. Speaking announces familiarity, connection, and relationality.…
This is not generic speech, formal pronouncements, but the language of intimate spaces where peoples inside talk to one another. The hearers query a past that does not exist for these followers of Jesus. “How do they know my language and know my people? When did they gain that knowledge?” But their miraculous tongues are not about the past but about the future, a future shaped by divine desire. This is why we must see more than a miracle of hearing. Such limited seeing … exposes our modern failure to grasp the revolutionary intimacy that will give birth to a belonging that we will call church. This is a revolution of the Spirit always poised to unleash itself at the slightest moment of faithful waiting and yielding
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Individual Reflection
Where in your life are you aware of the Spirit already at work — and where are you still waiting for an invitation that’s already been given?
Group Discussion — choose one:
- Where have you experienced the Spirit creating an intimacy or belonging you never asked for?
- What does it mean to you that God gives the Spirit to those who want it rather than those who deserve it?
- What would it look like to “fan into flame” something that’s already in you rather than reaching for something outside yourself?
