At Pentecost, Jesus’ confused disciples were gathered and locked in a room. Fear and suspicion filled the air. There was more perspiration than inspiration! The disciples were afraid that they would suffer the same fate as their Master. They listened and waited for the mob to arrive. They hoped that no one would discover their hiding place.

In contrast, there’s the powerful image of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not halted by locked doors or locked hearts. The Spirit is not excluded from the vulnerable parts of people’s lives. When the Spirit came upon the disciples, it wasn’t like a gentle breeze, but more like a cyclonic wind that flattens everything in its path.  

The Spirit fires the disheartened disciples with new energy, enthusiasm and authority. The divine wind swept them off their feet, and drove them out of hiding. The divine fire set them ablaze with zeal for God’s Kingdom and empowered them for their mission. They go out into the world, and fearlessly proclaim the gospel with its message of peace and forgiveness.

At first the crowd is confused, “because each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language”. Something had happened to change the disciples’ outlook and behaviour. The crowd’s second reaction is amazement: “are not all these people who are speaking Galileans.” Yet everyone understood what the disciples were saying.

When that happened, there was communion, whereas before there had been misunderstanding and division. The disciples’ ‘broke through’ to people, and spoke a deeper and more personal language that’s actually in all of us, and which so rarely gets spoken. It’s a language in search of meaning and understanding. It’s music in search of a melody. It’s words in search of a story. It’s a blank canvas in search of beauty and creativity. It’s the language of the Holy Spirit.

The blaze that began at Pentecost has continued across the centuries, growing, spreading, scorching. At times, humanity has tried to avoid or escape it;  and tried to ignore the beauty and disturbance of the Spirit’s power and energy. We’ve tried to tame or dilute it into a cosy, domesticated faith, rather than subject ourselves to the Spirit’s transforming and purifying fire.

But, try as we might, the Spirit blows where it will. The Spirit cannot be captured or contained; it’s not conservative or liberal, it’s not ‘us or them.’ The Spirit is free. The Spirit is everywhere, and is especially alive in us; sending us out into the world like the disciples and empowering us to bring peace and forgiveness wherever life takes us.

Every day is a Pentecost.

David J Hore CSsR

© Majellan Media 2026

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