𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐁𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏 𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐎 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐘𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐄

 

Know Pentecost: Know the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is the day that ends the Easter Season. It is the commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, giving them courage to witness courageously to Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:1). The apostles and the mother of Jesus gathered together in prayer, in anxiety or out of fear? We can have different answers. However, the Bible teaches that after the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles a change came over them. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves” (Acts 2:4). That is why Pentecost is called the birthday/activation of the Church. It repaired the damage caused by human self-centredness at the Tower of Babel when human beings were scattered and no longer understood one another.

The Holy Spirit united the world in one language of love.  It came after Jesus had promised the disciples: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit descends on you and you shall be my witnesses (Acts 1:6ff) Earlier than that in John’s gospel Jesus said: “Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:5ff). He had also promised to send them the Holy Spirit (Jn 14: 16-17) as an advocate to remind them of all He had taught them (Jn 14: 26). After he arose from the dead He appeared to them and gave them power through the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. (Jn 20: 22-23). All this is the genuine work of the Holy Spirit.

 

Pray daily for the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to all believers and we must all pray for it. Jesus said “Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.... if you, ... know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matt 7:7-11). So, ask daily for the Holy Spirit in your prayers to enlighten you guide you and empower you. Seek forgiveness of your sins through the priest. It is the Holy Spirit that works through them.     

 

Take courage from the Holy Spirit in tough times

You may then ask what will the coming of the Holy Spirit do for us in these circumstances. Maybe we should first ask, if we don’t celebrate the Holy Spirit what is the better alternative? The Holy Spirit will give us courage to do Jesus’ will in spite of our troubles like it did to the apostles on the first day. After the Holy Spirit descended on them those few disciples lost all fear and witnessed to Christ. No longer were they closed in one room for whatever reason, they burst out to the entire territory, refusing to allow fear or their concerns to paralyze them God rewarded them. It is the same thing we have done this Pentecost proclaiming the gospel of peace and hope to many. It shall bear fruits.

 

Be Selfless like Paul and Silas

We must ask for the Holy Spirit that rescued Paul and Silas from unjust imprisonment as they taught other prisoners in the Bible (Acts 16: 26ff). Pray that the same Spirit, that same divine force, shake down the enclaves that hold God’s all children captive in Nigeria and set them free, rendering powerless all their captors and torturers. Plead that God deploy that Holy Spirit which compelled their gaoler, seeing the wonders of God to ask: “What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16ff). We pray that that same force will bend the hearts of the agents of evil to conversion and to God. 

 

Practice the “Pentecost Outreach” on Digital Media

Receiving the Holy Spirit compels us too to spread the good news of Jesus, his love his suffering, his death and his victory, and about his message of peace and offer of salvation. That is what Christians who are touched by the Holy Spirit ought to do in spite of the circumstance. I urge you to always be agents of good news. Too many people today spread only bad news. I challenge all Christians to be different.  I ask all youths to “evangelize and catechize the social media” not just by being present on them but by transforming them with good news. We all can imagine what pain and violence can be. No one needs to share them in graphic details on the social media. Much news and videos of pornography, exploitation, calumny, abuse, torture, violence and inhumanity are on the internet around today. Many are fake and malicious? They provide a dark kind of pleasure but they offend human dignity and do not make anything better. They only increase the pain of those who are affected? Those who have the Holy Spirit must choose to share only content that add value to others. That is the “Pentecost Outreach. (Isaiah 52:7). I challenge young people touched by the Holy Spirit to fight extremism on the social media because all violence evil and war in this world begin from a thought and an idea.

 

Ask the Holy Spirit to be our advocate in these tough times.

 

We have different gifts and tasks given to us by God for the sake of others and of society.  Ask the Holy Spirit to take control of the heart of all man and women to play their part.  Pray that he inspire those in governance to use their position and power to secure lives and property. Pray that those who are equipped to make life better for all be made to do their duties. Pray that those given different gifts put them at the disposal of the community and the church. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you to pray and miracles will happen.

 

Reach out to all in Love

Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love. It is the language of Love: the language of love that we want to hear in our Churches and as followers of Christ and not the language of hate. “Holy Ghost Fire, Back to Sender or Die, Die and Die by Fire” prayers are not Christian at all. People who are praying like this are pagans and are telling us that there is no spirit of God in our Churches or in the world. Stop these nonsense prayers and begin to speak the language of the Pentecost: Unity and Love. For St. Paul tells us that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience Kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Remember how Jesus Christ forgave the world on the cross (Luke 23: 34). This is what it means to be born again and to create a better world.