Sunday Homily, 8 June 2025 – Fr Paul Rowse, OP

Taking up St John’s chronology, the paschal descent of the Holy Spirit first happens on Easter Sunday.  For John, the resurrection, ascension, and outpouring of the Spirit all occur on the same day, Easter day.  As we read both Luke’s Acts and John’s Gospel, we see Scripture united therefore on the point that the Spirit is an Easter gift to us: he comes forth from the Father because the Son has rejoined him.  He descends because Christ ascended.

On Easter Sunday night, perhaps not long after he appeared at Emmaus, the risen Lord appeared again in Jerusalem.  The Ten who saw him, that is, the Twelve minus Judas and Thomas missing, were enveloped in darkness of their own making.  The night which had fallen around them was symbolic of the night which had fallen within them.  And in the darkness of the closed mind, it’s possible to ask some dark questions: “They killed the Master off, so which of us is next?”  “Mary Magdalene says the Lord appeared to her, but how does that fit with life and death?”  And then the Lord comes.

He is the light in their darkness, the eternal light in every darkness.  The Ten were illumined by his presence among them.  Easter and Pentecost are feasts of light.  We know a little of their joy when we saw the Paschal Candle light up our church fifty days ago.  Brand new, well–shaped, and newly–decorated, the Easter fire crowned the candle and gave its light to the church.  By its light, we could see again.  Though the darkness of Easter night continued, it was not dark for us.  “The night is as clear as day, dazzling.”  We saw hope flicker; we saw each other in its light.

The Lord came to the Ten.  Twice, almost in the same breath, he gave them his greeting of peace.  Then by showing them the wounds of his death, he gave them certain knowledge of his resurrection.  Would that be enough?  Would that greeting and that certain sight mean the door could at last be unlocked and they could leave the darkness?  Perhaps.  They do sound like Pentecost gifts: peace and knowledge; calm comfort and illumination; tranquility and comprehension.  But before they know it, the Lord bestows two further gifts which mean that door of fear can never be closed again.  In addition to his peace and knowledge of his resurrection, the Lord gives them their mission and the corresponding power to carry it out: “I am sending you.  Receive the Holy Spirit.  When you forgive sins, they are forgiven.”

The mission which the Lord gives them is much like his own: to reconcile people to the Father’s love.  To think, so much of what the Lord did during the public ministry was about reconciliation.  The paralytic, lowered into the presence of Jesus by his friends, walked again because his sins were forgiven.  Lepers were reconciled to society because they were cleansed.  People possessed of demons were free again after meeting Jesus, like we are after our baptism and each confession.

It’s not the sending alone which makes the disciples resemble their Lord; it’s the mission carried out, made effective by the breath of Christ, the Holy Spirit, who abides in them.  The beneficiaries of their mission become a new people: Christians are those who have been forgiven, who have a future in God.  Whereas we can define ourselves by our ethnicity or geography, the risen Lord defines us by forgiveness.  Those whom he has forgiven think differently to their neighbours because they’re not carrying the burden of sin.  Instead, the Holy Spirit who abides within them is continually moving them deeper into the Father’s love after the Son.  Thus, one–by–one, the kingdom of sin is being deprived of its spoils; one–by–one, the kingdom of Christ grows despite all darkness.

So it is for us to seek out the ministry of forgiveness which the risen Lord entrusted to his apostles.  Their mission is fulfilled in us when we are reconciled to the Father’s love.  When we are forgiven, we participate in the outpouring of the paschal Spirit.  It is he who folds us back into the Father’s heart.  It is he who makes us like the Son who reconciles.

May the Holy Spirit lead us into the truth about ourselves.  May he illumine our minds and hearts, that the door of fear may be flung open and we may move freely as he disposes.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP Parish Priest