Happy Birthday - Open Your Gift
- Deacon Phillip Uro
- May 28, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 16, 2023
Pentecost Sunday May 28, 2023
Acts 2:1-11 Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 Jn 20:19-23 In the words of a very famous animated snow man named Frosty, I would like to say, “Happy Birthday!” Yes, I know it’s not the Christmas Season, but as I was thinking about today’s feast day, I asked myself if Pentecost was truly when the Church was Born? We often refer to the Feast of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, and we celebrate it as such, but still I wondered. And as I was wondering about the Church’s Birthday, I could not help but hear Frosty’s voice in the back of my head saying, “Happy Birthday.” I don’t know why, but maybe in some strange way it was a message from the Holy Spirit, and if so, what was he trying to tell me?
As I continued reflecting on it, I asked myself, just how many times did Frosty actually say Happy Birthday? It turns out he says it three different times, each time he is brought to life. Which then led me to think about the God we worship being a Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then that led to the question of whether the Church has one or possibly three different birthdays? Each related to a different person of the Trinity.
Turns out, according to Fr. David Endres, an associate professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology, the Church has what we can refer to as three birthday moments expressed in varying ways as related to the beginning of time, Good Friday, and Pentecost.
First, the Church is Born from Eternity: Saint Clement said the Church existed before the sun and the moon. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus spoke of the Church before and after Christ. And Saint Augustine gave the analogy that just as a baby’s arm might be born before his head, so the Church was born before Christ, the Head.
All the ancient patriarchs, prophets and faithful children of Israel formed part of the Church. So, the Church was born at the beginning of time because there never was a time when God was not working to bring humanity into his family.
Second, the Church is Born from the side of Christ: On Good Friday, God gathered sinful humanity to himself once and for all. Saint Paul writes, “Through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His Cross” [Col. 1:20]. The one, holy Catholic and apostolic Church was born from Jesus’ self-gift, and we see this in the blood and water that gushed forth from His side. And as Saint John Chrysostom said, “Water and blood symbolize baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments, the Church is born.” And so, the Church is born on Good Friday because it was when God definitively united all of humanity to Himself and gave us the sacraments through which we enter into His family.
Finally, the Church is Born from the Spirit: After the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, Peter preached to those gathered and 3,000 were baptized. It was then that the Church’s mission was revealed to the world. Saint Pope John Paull II said, “As the Fathers teach, [the Church] was born on the Cross on Good Friday; she revealed this birth to the world on the day of Pentecost.” On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit began visibly uniting all of humanity into one body, and the Church was first seen in her sacramental fullness.
Today, as we celebrate the Church’s birthday, we can look to three defining moments: The beginning of time, when the Church was conceived in the mind of God; Good Friday, when the Church was born from the heart of Jesus; and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first visibly sent the Church on mission.
As for this Feast of Pentecost that we celebrate, I have a similar question about when. When did the Apostles receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit? Our readings today seem to speak of two different occurrences.
First in our Gospel from John, Jesus appears to the Apostles on the evening of that first day of the week, Easter Sunday, breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This is one defining moment of a singular event.
Then in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we read that the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, which is 50 days after the Feast of Passover; another defining moment of a singular event. We’ll come back to this moment later.
Now, God is not limited by time and space in the way that we are, as time was created by Him, and he existed before time began. And much like the Eucharist that we celebrate each time we come to Mass, where we are celebrating and participating in one singular event, one sacrifice for all, so to with Pentecost, it is a singular event, expressed in two defining moments in our readings today. Likewise, our reception of the Holy Spirit is also celebrated by two Sacraments, that of Baptism and Confirmation.
Now who here does not like to receive a gift on their birthday? Well guess what, that is whom the Holy Spirit is! He is the gift promised by Jesus as we heard from the Gospel of John two weeks ago on the Sixth Sunday of Easter. So besides celebrating the Church’s birthday, today we celebrate the reception of the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and with that, all that is of and from the Holy Spirit. And when we speak of the gifts, the fruits, the virtues, and the charisms of the Holy Spirit, we are speaking of manifestations of the one Gift.
We have in us, as a Church and as individuals, the fullness of this one Gift. All the gifts, fruits, virtues, and charisms are part of the one Gift, the Holy Spirit; and they manifest in us, as He sees fit, so as to lift us up to serve and build up the Church, the Body of Christ. Which is what Saint Paul was reminding the Church in Corinth about in our second reading today.
There was a division in the Church of Corinth between those who practiced the Charisms of the Spirit, especially the gift of tongues, and those who did not. Paul had to reign them in and remind them that the manifestations of the Gift of the Holy Spirit are not meant to cause division, but to build up the one Body of Christ. And through this Gift we can all say that Jesus is Lord.
Later, in this letter to the Corinthians, he goes on to express, that of all the Gifts of the Spirit, there are but three that last; faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. He also explains all that love is not, and all that love is, and that if we are not living the manifestation of the Gift of love, then we are nothing.
Now let’s go back to this “50 days after Passover” that I mentioned earlier. The Jewish people celebrated what is called the Feast of Weeks, or the Harvest Festival. It was one of the three major Jewish feasts, and according to the book of Leviticus, the Feast was celebrated for seven consecutive weeks beginning on the morning following the Sabbath day of Passover; thus, the title of the “Feast of Weeks.” Now the word Pentecost means fiftieth, and so later in the Old Testament this celebration also became known as “Pentecost” because its celebration culminated on the fiftieth day after Passover.
I find it amazing that the Gift of the Holy Spirit, as expressed in the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading, occurs when the time of Pentecost was fulfilled. The time in which the Hebrews offered their first fruits of the harvest to the Lord at the tabernacle. It is here, at this time, that the Church, the people of God, are called to harvest souls for the Kingdom of God. And the tools which we need for the harvest are the gifts, fruits, virtues, and charisms of the Holy Spirit who came down as tongues of fire. How amazing is this?
But what does all this mean for us here and now? Especially here in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis as we continue to move forward with this All Things New that we have been praying and preparing for? It is a time of rebirth, to be born again in the Spirit, and for us to do what we should have been doing all along; a time for us to open up this Gift of the Holy Spirit, to surrender to his will, and allow the outpouring of the manifestations of his gifts, fruits, virtues, and charisms, as we go on mission and work to evangelize both those within our Church, and those outside our Church. To tear down the walls which cause division, and to open up ourselves to new possibilities whereby we can express faith, hope, and most importantly, love to one another. To live out our sacramental fullness for all the world to see.
In closing I’ll simply say. Happy Birthday and enjoy your Gift.
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