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
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
L-Ewwel Lezzjoni - Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Atti tal-Appostli 2, 1-11
.....................
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/
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/
...............
Reading 2 - Romans 8:8-17
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
...........................
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.
…………………….
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.
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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