The Fire of God's Love this Pentecost

Fulton J. Sheen once noted that although we are God's chosen people, so often we behave more like frozen people.

Frozen in our prayer life, in the way we relate with one another, in the way we celebrate our faith.

We seem unhappy to be in God's house.

We are always in a hurry to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

Today is a day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love.

This is the climax of our Easter celebration, Pentecost, meaning "fifty days" after the Passover -- the feast day  in which Jewish people marked the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.  Here the tribes of Israel entered into covenant with God and with one another and became the people of God. 

"There is a way that seems right to a people, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12).


The tale of the Tower of Babel in Genesis was an attempt to build a bridge to heaven.

But, God came and confused the languages of the people.  Misunderstanding ensued.

Pentecost is a reversal of Babel.  God builds a bridge to humans by sending the Holy Spirit - a divine initiative.

Babel was a requiem of confusion while Pentecost is a chorus of mutual understanding and grace.

At Pentecost people of different ethnic backgrounds  (Persians, Asians, Romans, Libyans, Arabs) came together unable to communicate, but after the miracle of Pentecost, they affirmed:

"Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans?  How is it that we hear them, each of us in our own language?"  (Acts 2:7-8)

LOVE is this eternal language.

Let us begin again.

And, we will rediscover fire for the second time.