Happy Birthday to our Church! On this beautiful day the Church came into being in power, unity and in the Spirit!
In today’s readings, two instances of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are revealed. Some say that John 20:22 represents the giving of the Indwelling Spirit and Acts 2 represents the Outpouring of the Spirit for em- powerment in God’s work. Both are beautiful experiences of the Spirit’s outpouring.

The outpouring in St John’s Gospel would have taken place first. I call it the Peace and Fire experience. This is because our Lord was almost saying, “Are you ready?” and again “Are you ready?” and then “Fire”; mean- ing go! Or breathe in, take a deep breath and then ‘Fire’. It was given to the apostles and they were given the mandate to go into the world. They were also given the authority to forgive sins. In a way, the Sacrament of Recon- ciliation was also born on that day. Jesus ‘breathed’ on them, like on the day of creation. Our Lord could have simply spoken but here he breathes almost initiating a sort of ‘Rebirth’ for every person. A second chance to live in a supernaturally enlightened way, to see with God’s eyes and to feel with God’s heart and to operate with his spirit.

The second outpouring which we call the Empowerment has some beautiful points we need to take note of, through key words. Firstly, they were all together in one place in prayer and unity. They were waiting with baited breath. It says ‘suddenly’ – the Holy Spirit’s action and timing is un- predictable. The sad reality of our worship today is that it is so time bound and we have fewer opportunities of touching the power of the Spirit. There was a sound and a rush of wind, filling the entire place. It was a physical as well as an internal experience. Tongues of fire rested on each of them. The word says ‘all of them’ were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. There were no exceptions. The anointed believers began to speak in new languages and began to talk about God’s deeds of power. Not about themselves.
In the letter to the Corinthians it is clarified where St. Paul says no one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit and the manifestations are only for the common good and not for personal gratification. Finally St Paul says, “In the one spirit we were all baptized and we were all made to drink of one Spirit”. Hence this experience is meant for one church. Every Christian is called into it and breathed upon by our Lord with fire to share the Good News with the world.
Prayer: Abba Father, we rest in your presence in anticipation of a greater outpouring of your Holy Spirit that we may live for you. Amen.-