What happened to the disciples on Pentecost brings to mind the story of a certain teenager who also found himself transformed in ways he never expected.
One day he and his mother were rummaging through a second hand store when they spotted a thick black wool chesterfield topcoat. The coat, with a velvet black collar, elegant tailoring and fancy label was like new. Whoever owned it had taken good care of it. And the price was an unbelievable $28.
Dark woolen topcoats were very popular with the kids at the boy’s high school but they usually cost several hundred dollars. The teenager slid his arms down into the heavy satin lining of the sleeves and buttoned the coat. He turned from side to side, eyeing himself in the mirror with a serious expression that soon broke into a smile. It was a perfect fit.
The boy, whose name was John, wore the coat to school the next day. “How did your friends like your new coat?” his mother asked. “They loved it,” John said as he carefully draped the coat over the back of a chair.
Over the next few weeks, John’s mother noticed a change in her son. Agreement replaced contrariness; quiet, reasoned discussion replaced arguments. John became more mannerly, more thoughtful, and eager to please. He was more generous and patient with his younger brother, chores were willingly and cheerfully done, and his homework was completed without nagging.
When she mentioned the change to one of John’s teachers, she was told, “It must be the coat!” John’s mother had this to say, “John and I both know we should never mistake a person’s clothes for the real person within them. But there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence in thought, speech and behavior, and for matching what is on the inside with what is on the outside.”
Like the effect John’s coat seemed to have on him, the Spirit of God certainly had an impact on the disciples. Until Pentecost, which came 50 days after Easter, they had been hiding in the upper room, uncertain what to do. Jesus had promised to send them the Holy Spirit and when that happened, as we heard from our first reading, they finally understood all that Jesus had shared with them during his ministry. They were empowered to venture forth and share the good news with anyone who would listen. No longer timid or intimidated, the disciples preached God’s message of love, forgiveness and salvation, not just in their native Aramaic, but in the languages of those who were listening.
From its humble beginnings in Jerusalem, the Church grew, eventually reaching all the corners of the world. Its many believers were joined together by a common faith in spite of their different languages and cultures. What has enabled the Church to grow, as Paul tells us, is the ongoing presence of the Spirit enabling us to share our many different gifts and ministries. The Church is vibrant when its members all see themselves as coming together and using their different gifts and talents to follow the example of the early disciples.
I recall the day when I first understood the point Paul was making here that we make up the body of Christ. As with our own bodies, some parts may not seem as important as other parts. I could lose a finger and still have a useful hand but without the rest of me, that finger could not survive. That image strongly impressed upon me how important the faith community of the Church is for my spiritual wellbeing. Likewise, the well-grounded faith community depends on its many members to pool together their talents and treasures to instill new life in the parish.
Simply put, God is counting on all of us to do our share in proclaiming the good news of salvation by word and example. Some of us forget that the mission of being a disciple was entrusted to us at our baptism. You might be thinking to yourself that faith is a private matter between you and God. If that is the case, then you aren’t seeing the whole picture of what being Christian is about.
A well-rooted faith depends on all the parts being put together: scripture, sacraments, prayer, study, worship, and a community of believers. Leave out any one of these essential components and we will be left with a faith that could easily fall apart in the face of a personal crisis.
Pentecost celebrates the reality that we are not meant to be a scattered bunch of self-reliant individuals. Rather, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to make God’s will our will. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit that include wisdom, piety, understanding, knowledge, and fortitude, we have been transformed so that we can make our broken world aware of God’s healing presence.
At baptism, we were clothed, not with a chesterfield coat, but with a white garment. As that was being done, we were told to bring our Christian dignity with the help of our family and friends unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.
Likewise, on this Pentecost, we are invited to put on the Spirit just as the disciples did, matching our outer selves with the grace and peace of our inner selves where the love of God dwells. Dare we accept God’s invitation to let the Spirit dwell in our hearts and make a difference in our lives?