Celebrating the Ordinary: A Reflection for Pentecost
Today is Pentecost. As the Church, we come to the end of the Great 90 Days: the 40 days of Lent and the 50 days of Easter. We have recalled the ministry, passion and death of the Master, Jesus Christ. We have celebrated His resurrection from the dead and his ascension into glory. Today, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the day that the Church was born.
Many Jews were gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Shavuot (Pentecost). In Jewish tradition, this was the day to offer the first fruits to the Lord in thanksgiving for the spring harvest and to give thanks for the renewal of all of nature after the barren winter season. Later, it came to include the celebration of Moses’ reception of the Law from the Lord on Mount Sinai. Christians came to see Pentecost as the day that the preaching of the Apostles bore fruit in the conversion of the Jews gathered from many nations in Jerusalem. It is the day of when the Law of Christ (New Testament) brought to completion the Law of Moses.
We then are the people of this new dispensation. We too are the first fruits of those who have preached the Gospel. For many, those who stood in place of the Apostles were just ordinary men and women. They were our parents, parish priests and religious sisters who taught in our Catholic schools. For others, it was the dedicated lay people who taught our catechism classes, or it was our spouse and (in some cases) our own children who awakened the faith in our hearts.
From the preaching of 11 ordinary men known as Apostles, the Church we are a part of was born. Now, it is our turn to preach the Good News of Jesus to those around us. We may not be called to stand on street corners to share the saving power of Jesus Christ, but we are called to preach just the same by how we live our daily lives. Every “ordinary” decision we make, from treating everyone we meet with charity and respect to going back to a store when we discover we have been undercharged, is imparting the Christian message. Putting others first by sacrificing our desires without counting the cost is just as eloquent as any sermon – maybe more so. Let us never underestimate the Lord’s ability to use us ordinary people to share the extraordinary message of salvation.
