The Gospel takes place shortly after Jesus’s resurrection
The Apostles were scared that they also would be put to death
So they lock themselves in a room and hide from the Jews and Romans
Jesus appears to give them their mission
He promises to send the Holy Spirit to them to help them with this mission
And in the 1st reading, it doesn’t look like too much has changed
They saw the risen Jesus
They saw Him ascend into heaven
Yet they still haven’t started Jesus’s mission to “go make disciples of all nations” by “teaching them” His “commands”
The Holy Spirit realizes this and enters into them in a new way
The Spirit stirs in them the gifts that were in them all along
Most of them became courageous to the point of martyrdom, dying for Christ
My friends, on that Pentecost day, the fire of the Spirit did not just descend on the disciples and not move
When you read the Acts of the Apostles, you hear that it spread
It wasn’t a destructive force like a wild fire
But it was something new, it was a consoling/healing flame
That same fire of the Holy Spirit is still with us today
We just need to be willing to recognize it.
