Acts 2:1-11
Romans 8:8-17
John 14:15-16, 23b-26
Most of the liturgical seasons and feast day celebrations of the Church are easily identifiable from the images and symbols that are used.
For eg, when we see an evergreen wreath with 4 candles, we will know it’s Advent.
When we see a crib and some figurines, we will know it’s Christmas.
When we see a cross and purple cloth, we will know it’s Lent.
When we see the big candle out here, we will know it’s Easter.
But how about Pentecost? What concrete image or symbols would indicate it’s Pentecost?
Could it be the red-coloured vestment? But it also looks like CNY.
So there is the traditional symbol of the dove, and those tongues of fire.
Actually it’s 7 tongues of fire to denote the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Of course we are not going to let go some doves here, because something else other than gifts will drop on us.
And we are also not going to carry lighted candles to denote the tongues of fire, because some of us might be on fire, in the wrong sense.
So it is actually quite difficult to have a concrete image or symbol for the celebration of Pentecost.
So what concrete image for symbol did Jesus use to symbolize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
Well, He didn’t use an image or symbol.
Rather, He used an action – He breathed on His disciples and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.
Quite plain, right? No drama at all?
We would expect something like Jesus would go to each disciple and lay His hands and say “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
And they will drop and rest in the Spirit, and start speaking in tongues or whatever.
I still can remember the time when I was at a Confirmation camp for teenagers who were preparing for the Sacrament.
The highlight of the camp was the praying over each participant.
I was asked to help out in the praying over and at that time I was still a seminarian.
I was given this group of boys to pray over.
So I prayed over the first boy. I didn’t really call fire from heaven. There was no need to; after all, they are only 14-year old boys.
So I prayed over the first boy, then I prayed over the second boy.
Then I prayed over the third boy. After praying over him, he looked at me and said: Didn’t feel anything.
I was taken aback and felt a bit cheezed, so I retorted: Tsk, it takes a while lah!
He got no reply to that, and I thanked the Holy Spirit for shutting his gab!
So when Jesus first appeared to His disciples after the resurrection and breathed the Holy Spirit on them, I think that the disciples also did not feel anything. Just that they didn't dare say it.
But 50 days later, on Pentecost, something happened and things were never the same again.
Yes, it took a while, but when the Spirit moved the disciples, things got moving.
The Church took shape and started to grow.
But it was not an easy growth, because blood was shed and lives were lost.
But the Holy Spirit kept the Church moving and going.
There is this story of a daughter who complained to her father about how life was so difficult for her, with one difficulty after another, and her prayers were not answered.
Her father, who was a chef, took her to the kitchen.
He filled 3 pots with water and put them to boil.
In one, he put in carrots, in the second, he put in eggs and in the third he put coffee powder.
He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
The daughter wasn’t very amused and was getting impatient with her father.
After 10 minutes, the father turned off the fire and he took out the carrots and the eggs.
Then he ladled the coffee into a mug.
Then he asked his daughter: What do you see?
She replied: Carrots, eggs and coffee.
He asked her to feel the carrots and she did and said they were soft.
He then asked her to break an egg. After peeling off the shell, she observed that it was a hard boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee and she tasted the rich aroma.
Then she asked her father what it all meant.
The father explained that each of them has faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently.
The carrots were hard and strong, but in the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The eggs had been fragile, but after sitting through boiling water, its inside became hard.
The coffee powder was unique in that after they were in boiling water, they changed the water.
Finally, the father asked his daughter – So what are you? When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee powder?
The point of this story is that do we let the world and all its adversities change us?
Do we get weakened and disillusioned like the carrot; or do we become hard and bitter like the egg?
Or do we change the world when faced with its adversities, like what the coffee powder did to the boiling water.
So the symbols of red-coloured vestments and tongues of fire still give very profound meanings for Pentecost.
Red is the colour of martyrdom. The blood of martyrs gives rise to the Church.
And the tongues of fire purifies the Church, and sanctifies the Church, in the face of adversity.
And the Holy Spirit continues to move in the Church.
Well back to the story of that 14 year old boy who said “Didn’t feel anything”.
Well, after the Confirmation camp, I nicknamed him “Mr. Didn’t Feel Anything” and I thought he was rather arrogant and cocky at that time.
He looked like he was going to end up on the sleazy side of life.
He in turned called me “Bro. Wait a While”.
But that was many years ago. Now he calls me “Fr. Wait a While”.
That “Mr. Didn’t Feel Anything ” has become someone doing something.
He is active in his parish community and he is a catechist teaching Confirmation class!
He has come a long way and I am sure that the Holy Spirit was moving him along the way.
And he did feel something, although it took a while.
Well, it may take a while for us too. We may have to wait a while.
But meanwhile, may the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and kindle in us the fire of God’s love.