Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Pentecost

LECTIONARY
63

FIRST READING

Acts 2:1-11

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

PSALM

104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

Response: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth

Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.

If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

SECOND READING

1 Cor 12:3-7, 12-13

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

GOSPEL

Jn 20:19-23

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Daily Reflection

Historically, Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival which commemorated God’s Ten Commandments, given at Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Passover. These Commandments were guidelines, instructing the Israelites how to live as the ‘people of God’.

The Christian Pentecost took place fifty days after the Resurrection. It marks the birth of the Church because, this time, it was the giving of the 'Holy Spirit' who empowered the disciples to live as a ‘people of God’ - the Church.

So, who is this Holy Spirit? Is it a dove that descended on Jesus, or tongues of fire that came upon the Apostles? Is it water that brought life to people in the Old Testament or wind through which they experienced God’s presence? Is it the oil that God’s chosen prophets and kings were anointed with? These are just signs. The Holy Spirit is God’s own life given to all of us by Him, from the beginning of creation.

May we use the gifts of the Spirit that we have been blessed with, not for our own glory but to build our community.