How can we speak of the immaterial, yet very personal?
How can we approach the invisible, yet very close to us?
How can we relate to the divine, creative Spirit?
Human words and usual expressions are weak and poor to establish… a relation!
But symbols may come to our help facilitating the comprehension.
They can possibly assist us as we celebrate today’s Feast of Pentecost.
As we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit on human beings like us, we can look at the symbols used to describe God’s Spirit.
The 1st reading describes the appearance of the Spirit in “what seemed to be tongues of fire” (Acts 2:1-11).
The fire – warmth, light, purifying – exemplifies God’s action for us, in us.
As he started his work as God’s special messenger, Jesus went to be baptized by John the 
Baptist.
We are told that:
“He (John) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Jesus” (Matthew 3:16).
The dove – visible to the people present – stands for the invisible but real presence of God’s Spirit.
Already at the very beginning of the Bible, the narrative of the creation tells us:
“God’s spirit hovered over the water” (Genesis 1:2).
The text does not mention precisely the dove, but some spiritual writers have interpreted the scene as such.
The wind is also seen as a manifestation of God’s Spirit.
Before speaking of the tongues of fire, (referred to above) the text of Acts mentions:
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven”.
Jesus himself had spoken in this way to Nicodemus who had come to see him.
“The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
A presence surrounding us, inspiring us, guiding us…
Invisible but so very near and gentle…
Always and ever remaining with us, we who are “born of the Spirit”…
Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-la-pentecote-annee-b-2024/
I heard a sad but very inspiring story which I will share here with you. A woman pregnant with her first child became very sick during the fourth month of her pregnancy. Her condition was very serious and the doctor soon realised that she did not have a chance of remaining alive herself unless he prescribed some medication that could have negative effects on the child. He made this clear and told the women that she needed to decide very soon as it was a matter or urgency It was also obvious that at this stage the foetus would not live on its own. After much soul searching on the part of the mother-to-be and her husband, it was decided that the treatment should be administered. The woman survived and the pregnancy came to its full nine months when the woman gave birth to a baby boy. She was overjoyed.
You may be surprised to read that this story came back to my mind as I reflected on the readings of this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In the gospel (Luke 3:15-16,21-22), the Father used the same language about his Son whom he called « the Beloved ». Of course, Jesus had no blemish or defect of any kind. No, the story made me think of… ourselves and how the Father looked on us at our baptism! We were – we are – truly his beloved ones, we are precious in his sight and he loves us more than any human mother can cherish her new-born. He is not blind to our faults and defects, our sins ans miseries of all kinds. But none of these can prevent him from loving us. At times, we make serious efforts to ‘beautify’ ourselves in his sight, and surely our efforts must be pleasing to him as they express our desire to become more as he wants us to be. But, above all, it is not so much what we do that can make us more pleasing to him but what we allow him to do in us!