There is a lot of ugliness in our world today.  We are daily witnesses of this ugliness that casts a shadow on our world.  This ugliness comes from the violence of those who want to change the world and re-create it to fit their own conception of how the world should be to serve their interests.  This ugliness is witnessed in the acts of terror carried out by ISIS, by Boko Haram, by the looters and rioters in Ferguson and Baltimore and other places in our world where mobs of angry people use violence and chaos to bring about change and create a more “just” order.  Ugliness will never give birth to beauty.  Anything born out of the ugliness of violence, fear and disregard for human dignity will be a nightmare for humanity.

In stark contrast to the ugliness of violent human interventions we celebrate the beauty of the creative Word and Spirit of God that renews the face of the earth.  “When you send forth your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” (Ps 104,30)  “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (Jn 20,22f)  How beautiful is the breath of God that sends forth the Spirit of life, the breath that speaks words of peace and forgiveness, the breath that communicates love, the breath that drives out fear and hatred and fills the empty spaces of life with song, words of understanding and joy.  “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2,2ff)  The Spirit of God cleanses the world from the ravages of sin, separation, fear and hatred and creates new communities formed in love, caring and mutual understanding.  “In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5,22)  The life-giving breath of God is gentle and yet powerful.  It restores dignity and creates community.  It cleanses and creates.  It affirms, advocates and calls forth adoration.  It reveals, instructs and leads us to a knowledge of God’s Way in Christ Jesus.  The breath of God writes a new law of love, mercy, freedom and grace upon the hearts of all people.  God takes what is ugly and transfigures it into a new beauty, full of glory.

Pentecost is a celebration of harvest and first-fruits, the harvest of love and freedom that has been planted in the tears of our repentance and contrition as we have taken part in the Passion of Christ.  “Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.  Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.” (Ps 126,5f)  The “fifty days”, the period of time between the Passover and Shavuot, between the Passion and the Promised gift of the Spirit, is a time of growth and transformation into new life.  “While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”” (Acts 1,4f)  The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is the perfect love that casts out all fear.  In ancient Israel, Pentecost was also celebrated as the day on which God gave the people the law at Mt. Sinai.  The period between the Passover and the giving of the law at Sinai was taught to be fifty days.  Our Pentecost today is also celebrated as a time in which the new Israel, the Church, receives a new law in the Spirit, now written on the hearts of those who believe.

Finally, Pentecost sets us on fire so that our hearts are “burning within us” (Lk 24,32) as we begin to understand the Way of life that is Jesus, revealed in the Holy Scriptures that have been opened to our understanding.  The fire of the Spirit melds us into one in Christ Jesus.  The dross of our selfishness is purified and we are fused into one community of love in Christ.  The ugliness of our selfish nature is transformed into the beauty of the great “cloud of witnesses.” (Heb 12,1)  This gives birth to the beauty of the bride of Christ, the Church.  We now live with a new hope, a real hope that “does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom 5,5)  Our answer to the ugliness in this world is the beauty of life in the Spirit.  Imagine the power of transformation the world would experience if all Christians would open their lives to the breath of God and allow the Holy Spirit of love to purify them, set their hearts on fire and live according to the new law of freedom in the Spirit, as witnesses to the truth of his Word.  Imagine the song of joy that would be lifted up from the earth in adoration.  A new day would dawn in beauty.  “Come, Holy Spirit, come!  And from your celestial home shed a ray of light divine!” (Sequence)  Fill our hearts with your never ending joy!  Through the gift of the Spirit, poured out upon the Church, may we renew the face of the earth!