OMELIE / Omelie EN

24 mag 2026

24 May 2026 – Pentecost – Year A

24 May 2026 – Pentecost – Year A

1st Reading Acts 2:1–11; Psalm 103 2nd Reading 1 Corinthians 12:3b–7, 12–13 Gospel John 20:19–23

The responsorial psalm led us to sing the Lord’s praise because: ‘Send forth your Spirit, and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth’! When the Spirit of the Lord comes, human beings are no longer comparable to animals: ‘they are created’ as human beings, as children of God, as brothers and sisters. They are capable of relationship, of feeling part of one another’s lives and circumstances, and even of speaking to God and listening to him. And, when the Spirit comes, ‘the face of the earth’ is thus truly renewed: you no longer see it as before, dark and hostile, but you see everything and everyone as a gift. And you also see yourself as a gift for everyone.

The episode recounted by Luke, which took place on the fiftieth day after Jesus’ Resurrection, is truly something new, never before seen and never even expected. Fearful men suddenly become courageous, incomprehensible languages become familiar, different peoples feel like brothers. All this in the presence of Jesus: courage comes to speak of his death and resurrection, the languages speak of him, and those who listen hear his holy name in which lies God’s salvation for all, and finally the peoples all have Jesus at the centre: this is why everyone feels the other as their own brother, because they are his brothers.

The name of Jesus is also at the centre of St Paul’s attention: the Holy Spirit has come and is still and always present in the Church of God to enable us to pronounce that name! ‘No one can say, “Jesus is Lord!”, except by the Holy Spirit’, this is the apostle’s certainty.

Today’s feast, Pentecost, is essential: the Spirit is given to us so that we may pronounce the name of Jesus in a true and complete way: complete because He is God’s Salvation, and then proclaimed ‘Lord’ of our lives, of our people and of the whole world. Anyone who cannot pronounce the name of Jesus and declare him their Lord is a deficient person; they do not possess the fullness of life. They lack the Spirit of the Father, eternal life, the divine and holy dimension of living; they lack everything.

When the Spirit acts within us, St Paul further affirms, we become true servants of God, bearers of charisms—that is, divine gifts—we become active in his kingdom, charged with acting in the Father’s name, united through the Head to all the members. We become one with everyone, thanks to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit truly renews ‘the face of the earth’!

The importance of the Holy Spirit on earth is recognised by anyone who awaits peace and desires mercy. Without him, the creation of the world is incomplete: without him, on earth there are only enemies who do not know how to ask for or grant forgiveness, who do not know mercy. With him, however, mutual love arrives, and so we can say we have arrived, already partakers of the divine nature, as Saint Peter would say. With him we are sanctified, that is, divinised. With him we all become one, just as the Triune God is One. ‘We have all been baptised by one Spirit into one body’, and it is a marvellous wonder: ‘we all’!

When Jesus appeared to the apostles on the first day of the week, in fact, what did he do? After bestowing peace with his word, he breathed upon them. His breath is his inner life, that is, as he himself explains, the Holy Spirit: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. What will the Holy Spirit do in them? He will wipe away the sins that no one has ever wiped away, the sins of those who draw near to ask for mercy. Thus the face of the earth, from being dark, will become bright and clear.

The feast of Pentecost is the completion of Jesus’ work. He is not visibly present, for he is already at the right hand of the Father. But it is he who, according to the promise assured to the apostles during the Last Supper, sends from the Father the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, who will always be present to enlighten their path and to complete the kingdom of heaven. Every day the Church invokes the presence and work of the Holy Spirit; she invokes him in every liturgy, that he may transform the bread on the altar into the Body of Christ, and the wine into his Blood. And she invokes him that he may make us, nourished by that Bread, one body and one spirit. Every day, therefore, is Pentecost: for the Father hears this prayer of his children and grants it. Every day the face of the earth is renewed, thanks to this invocation.

We shall continue to sing with the psalmist: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul! You are so great, Lord, my God! How manifold are your works, O Lord!’ The Holy Spirit will use our voice to bless the Father and Jesus, and we shall rejoice together with him.