Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created

Readings for May 19, 2013 - 

Solemnity of the coming of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost Sunday  – (Liturgy of the day)              

Solennita' tal-Migja ta' l-Ispirtu s-Santu

Ghid il-Hamsin   (Liturgija tal-Jum)                                                 

Messalin C  237

Reading 1 -  Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. 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. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,  Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”  This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Ewwel Lezzjoni - Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Atti tal-Appostli  2, 1-11

Meta wasal jum Għid il-Ħamsin, huma kienu  lkoll flimkien  f'post wieħed.   F'daqqa waħda  ġie mis-sema ħoss bħal ta'  riħ qawwi, u mela d-dar kollha fejn kienu qegħdin.   U dehrulhom ilsna qishom tan-nar, li tqassmu u qagħdu fuq  kull wieħed minnhom.   Imtlew lkoll bl-Ispirtu s-Santu u bdew jitkellmu b'ilsna oħra, skont mal-Ispirtu kien jagħtihom li jitkellmu. F'Ġerusalemm kien hemm xi Lhud, nies twajba minn kull nazzjon  li hawn taħt is-sema.   Malli nstama' dan il-ħoss, inġabret kotra kbira,  ilkoll imħawdin għax kull wieħed minnhom kien jismagħhom jitkellmu  bl-ilsien tiegħu.  Miblugħin u mistagħġbin, bdew jgħidu:  "Dawn li  qegħdin jitkellmu mhumiex ilkoll mill-Galilija?  Mela kif kull wieħed minna qiegħed jismagħhom jitkellmu bi lsien art twelidu? Partin, Medin u Għelamin, nies mill-Mesopotanja, mil-Lhudija, mill-Kappadoċja, minn Pontu, mill-Asja, mill-Friġja, mill-Pamfilja, mill-Eġittu, mill-inħawi tal-Libja madwar Ċireni, nies li ġew minn Ruma, kemm Lhud u kemm proseliti,  oħrajn minn Kreta u Għarab, aħna lkoll qegħdin nisimgħuhom ixandru  bl-ilsna tagħna l-għeġubijiet ta' Alla!"       Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Responsorial Psalm -  

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

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.    or:   R. Alleluia.

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;                                            R/

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.                                                        R/

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.                                        R/

Salm Responsorjali    -   Salm 103 (104)

                        R/   Ibgħat l-Ispirtu tiegħek, Mulej, u ġedded il-wiċċ ta' l-art. (jew)

                                                Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

  Bierek ruħ tiegħi, lill-Mulej!

Mulej, Alla tiegħi, inti kbir bil-bosta!

Kemm huma kotrana l-għemejjel tiegħek, Mulej!

Mimlija l-art bil-ħlejjaq tiegħek.                                         R/

Jekk teħdilhom nifishom, imutu,

u lejn it-trab jerġgħu jmorru.

Malli tibgħat in-nifs tiegħek, jinħolqu,

u inti ġġedded il-wiċċ ta' l-art.                                           R/

Jibqa' sebħ il-Mulej għal dejjem!

Jifraħ il-Mulej bl-għemejjel tiegħu!

Ħa togħġbu l-għanja tiegħi,

Għax jien fil-Mulej l-hena tiegħi.                                       R/

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Reading 2 - Romans 8:8-17

Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead  dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors  to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.  This is the Word of The Lord.

It-Tieni Lezzjoni  - Qari mill-Ittra lir-Rumani 8, 8-17

Ħuti, dawk li jgħixu skont il-ġisem ma jistgħux jogħġbu lil Alla.   Issa intom ma intomx taħt il-ħakma tal-ġisem, imma tal-Ispirtu,  ladarba  hemm l-Ispirtu ta' Alla jgħammar fikom.   Jekk xi ħadd  ma għandux fih l-Ispirtu ta' Kristu, dan mhuwiex tiegħu. Jekk Kristu jgħammar fikom, għalkemm il-ġisem hu mejjet  minħabba fid-dnub, imma l-Ispirtu hu ħajjitkom minħabba l-ġustizzja.   Jekk l-Ispirtu ta' dak li qajjem lil Ġesu' mill-imwiet  jgħammar fikom, Alla stess li qajjem lil Kristu mil-imwiet  iqajjem għall-ħajja wkoll il-ġisem mejjet tagħkom, bis-saħħa tal-Ispirtu li jgħammar fikom. Hekk mela, ħuti, aħna m'aħniex  midjunin mal-ġisem biex ngħixu skont il-ġisem.  Għax jekk tgħixu skont il-gisem, tmutu; imma jekk tmewtu l-għemil tal-ġisem bl-Ispirtu, tgħixu.   Dawk kollha li jmexxihom l-Ispirtu ta' Alla huma wlied Alla. Għax intom ma rċevjtux l-ispirtu li ijwassalkom għall-jasar biex  terġgħu taqgħu fil-biża', imma rċevjtu l-ispirtu li jagħmel minnkom ulied adottive; u li bih aħna nistgħu ngħatu: "Abba! Missier!"  Dan l-Ispirtu jixhed  flimkien mal-ispirtu tagħna li aħna wlied Alla. Jekk aħna wlied, aħna wkoll werrieta, werrieta ta' Alla, werrieta ma' Kristu: ladarba aħna nbatu miegħu, biex miegħu nkunu gglorifikati. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Gospel  - John 14:15-16, 23b-26

Jesus said to his disciples:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words;  yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will  send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Evanġelju - Qari mill-Evanġelju ta’ San Ġwann 14, 15-16,23-26

F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu: "Jekk tħobbuni, ħarsu l-kmandamenti tiegħi. U jiena nitlob lill-Missier, u hu jagħtikom Difensur ieħor biex jibqa' magħkom għal dejjem. Jekk xi ħadd iħobbni, iħares kelmti, u Missieri jħobbu, u aħna niġu u ngħammru għandu.   Min ma jħobbnix ma jħarisx kliemi.  U l-Kelma li qegħdin tisimgħu mhijiex tiegħi, imma tal-missier li bagħatni. Għedtilkom dan meta għadni magħkom.   Imma d-Difensur, l-Ispirtu s-Santu, li l-Misseri jibgħat f'ismi, igħallimkom kollox u jfakkarkom dak kollu li għedtilkom."  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej.

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COMMENTARY

Father Cantalamessa on Pentecost

Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy.

Send Forth Your Spirit and They Shall be Created

The Gospel presents Jesus, who in the cenacle on Easter evening, "breathed on them and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" This breathing of Jesus recalls God's action who, in the creation, "formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being" (cf. Genesis 2:7). With his gesture Jesus indicates that the Holy Spirit is the divine breath that gives life to the new creation as he gave life to the first creation. The responsorial psalm highlights this theme: "Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth."

Proclaiming that the Holy Spirit is Creator means saying that his sphere of action is not restricted to the Church, but extends to the entire creation. No place and no time is without his active presence. He acts in and out of the Bible; he acts before Christ, during the time of Christ, and after Christ, even if he never acts apart from Christ. "All truth, by whomever it is spoken," Thomas Aquinas has written, "comes from the Holy Spirit." The action of the Spirit of Christ outside the Church is not the same as his action in the Church and in the sacraments. Outside he acts by his power; in the Church he acts by his presence, in person.

The most important thing about the creative power of the Holy Spirit is not, however, to understand it and explain its implications, but to experience it. But what does it mean to experience the Spirit as Creator? To understand it, let us take the creation account as our point of departure. "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, and the Spirit of the Lord brooded over the waters" (Genesis 1:1-2). We conclude from this that the universe already existed in the moment when the Spirit intervened, but it was formless and dark, chaos. It is after his action that the creation assumes precise contours; light is separated from darkness, dry land from the sea, and everything takes on a definite shape.

Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms the creation from chaos into cosmos, who makes it something beautiful, ordered, polished ("cosmos" comes from the same root as "cosmetic" and it means beautiful!), he makes a "world," in the double sense of this word. Science teaches us today that this process went on for billions of years, but the Bible -- with its simple and image-filled language -- wants to tell us that the slow evolution toward life and the present order of the world did not happen by chance, following blind material impulses. It followed, rather, a project that the Creator inserted in it from the beginning.

God's creative action is not limited to the initial instant; he is always in the act of creating. Applied to the Holy Spirit, this means that he is always the one who transforms chaos into cosmos, that is, he makes order out of disorder, harmony out of confusion, beauty out of deformity, youth out of age. This occurs on all levels: in the macrocosm as in the microcosm, that is, in the whole universe as in the individual person.

We must believe that, despite appearances, the Holy Spirit is working in the world and makes it progress. How many new discoveries, not only in the study of nature but also in the field of morality and social life! A text of Vatican II says that the Holy Spirit is at work in the evolution of the social order of the world ("Gaudium et Spes," 26). It is not only evil that grows but good does too, with the difference being that evil eliminates itself, ends with itself, while the good accumulates itself, remains. Certainly there is much chaos around us: moral, political, and social chaos. The world still has great need of the Spirit of God. For this reason we must not tire in invoking him with the words of the Psalm: "Send forth your Spirit, Lord, and renew the face of the earth!"

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