Jun 05., 2022 / General, Homilies, Soul Food
Pentecost Sunday
Homily on The Feast of Pentecost
by Fr Arnel Aquino, SJ
Cenacle Retreat House | 4 June 2022
I had a tooth extracted two days ago. I know. Sad. In the past, dentists were bunot-happy, remember? Konteng sakit, bunot. Konteng bulok, bunot. These days, extraction is the last resort of good dentists. They try to save a toot as much as they, even if it’s dead. They root canal it, fill it, cap it, anything to keep it just where it is. But alas, my dentist saw a fracture on my tooth, top to bottom. When a tooth fissures top to bottom, it cannot be saved. It has to come off. It’s hopeless. It’s irredeemable.
Image: Nalini Jayasuriya, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Buti na lang, hindi bunot-happy ang Diyos natin, ‘no? Imagine if he were? When we’ve become such a pain to others, when we start infecting them, corrupting them, a bunot-happy God would extract us from the face of the earth. People are better off without us being such a burden. The space we leave behind? God could always fill that up with much better people, people who are more faithful, to him, kinder to others, steadfast in their love & service. But you & I, we’re often unfaithful, unkind, unloving, & uncharitable. So, thank God, he’s not bunot-happy. Kahit gaano tayo kasama, sa kaila-ilaliman ng ating pagktao, gusto pa rin nating mabuhay, lalo na para sa mga mahal natin sa buhay. And you know, God honors that. For good or for ill, he honors that.
Secondly, such good news that no matter how fractured we are—top to bottom, sideways, inside out—to God, we’re still savable. To be fair, not all our cracks are our fault, no. The sins of family, community, the world have split & torn us apart. Nonetheless, we fissure also because of our own immoral, self-serving, & self-aggrandizing choices, both as individuals & as a community, as a country, even. Alam na alam na natin kung ano, sino, at saan anag makakasama sa atin, sige pa rin tayo nang sige. D’un pa rin tungo natin. Ang tigas ng ulo natin. ‘Di tayo matuto-tuto. But even then, we never forfeit our redeemability. Not to God, anyway. Sometimes, to be franck with you, I wish God didn’t give bad people such long lives, especially bad politicians. Sometimes, I wonder why politicians who are obviously bulok are still around & thriving. But just as divine benevolence is a mystery, human redeemability is also a mystery only God understands. If there’s one thing God is “incapable” of doing, maybe it’s to restrain himself from saving us. Kung sa bagay, ‘yun naman ang pangalan niya dito sa lupa, ‘di ba? Jesus. Yeshua. God saves.
Many, many Catholics believe that when Jesus ascended to the Father, he has since been saving us by remote control…from heaven. The remot control is the Holy Spirit. I often ask the graduating class in LST: “What does the Holy Spirit look like? What does he do? How does he behave?” They stare at me like a I have three heads! But there’d always be one brave soul who’d answer: “Father, dove? Father, the Spirit hovers over us, enlightens us & empowers us?” So, the Holy Spirit is some bird-like avatar of God & has only two missions: light & power. Meralco?
First of all, the Holy Spirit has a face, a human face. And this is the face of Jesus. The Holy Spirit in fact isJesus; not bird, not just “light” or “wind” or “energy.” Secondly, Holy Spirit does more than light & power. If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Father & Son, then, the Holy Spirit also saves! Whatever Jesus did in his earthly life over 2000 years ago, he still does today as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit heals our illness, fills our hunger, consoles our grief, reconciles us, unites our family & community—the very same way Jesus did back in his day. When Jesus “sends” us the Spirit, it is Jesus’ very Self who comes down to us, to be with us, yes, but also to dwell within us—regardless of our biyak, bitak, putok, baho, tigas ng ulo, katangahan, kasakiman. The Holy Spirit has a name after all. His name is Jesus. Yeshua. God saves.
Hindi pa po tapos ang Diyos sa atin, sisters & brothers. We should never despair & think that we’re irredeemable, both as individuals & as a country. In God’s eyes, the world always needs saving because we always need saving, & very often from ourselves. Kung dumating man ang panahon when we finally make the right choices, whether in moral acts, correct behavior, or during elections—our right choices do not end the Spirit’s redemptive mission. We know ourselves only too well. Despite making right choices, we will eventually hurt each other. We will become cynical. We will resort to unkind behavior. And yes, we will try to extract people we reckon are irredeemable. So, all the more reason we need a constant Pentecost—a yearly Pentecost, a monthly Pentecost, a daily Pentecost: that divine outpouring of God’s very self on all of us, in spite of ourselves.
And so, we prayer: Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful & kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit & we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.” Amen.
