“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”
—Gospel of John, chapter 20:21

The message of Pentecost offers an inspiring remedy to the problems of divisiveness in our times. It is a message of unity and peace. This is something everyone wants. But unity and peace will elude us if we seek them in all the wrong places.

Thus we must return to the spiritual principle of our unity as children of God. Scripture states: “there are different works but the same God who accomplishes all of them in every one” (1 Corinthians 12:6). God is bigger than all of us. He created us and He wants to work through us to achieve His will. If we stick with Him, remain in Him, we will all find a purposeful place in His scheme of things.

Put God and His approval first in your life, and everything else will fall into place.

Unity among Christians is like the unity of different parts of the body as St. Paul says: “the body has many members, but all the members, many though they are, are one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12). Everything we do must be done with a view to promoting the common good, the good of the whole, rather than hindering it’s progress by acts of divisiveness. When one of us does well, we all do well. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. No man is an Island. We are all part of the whole and of each other. Like the parts of the body, we are all interconnected.

Foster unity with others the way you maintain the unity and health of your own body.

The source of this unity is the Holy Spirit who unites us, as Scripture explains:: “all of us have been given to drink of the one spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Our spiritual unity with God enables us to grow harmoniously despite differences in personality, roles and functions. All human progress can give glory to God and benefit humankind when it is cultivated responsibly by people who are conscious of their dependence on God and on their need for one another.

Show your dependence on God and your connectedness with others by your actions to spread unity and peace.

Today, we commemorate that first Pentecost or outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Before they received the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were a frightened bunch, cowering together in a room for fear of the Jewish leaders, the Romans, and the restless society in which they lived. But, after they received the Holy Spirit, these same people became fearless witnesses of Christ, the Prince of unity and peace.

If the Holy Spirit could turn a frightened group, like the early Apostles, into fearless witnesses of Christ, He can do it also for you in today’s society.

Unity and peace! How we yearn for these qualities today! They cannot be achieved without effort and fearlessness, and they need to be waged with the same intensity that the enemy wages war and division if we are to heal our broken world.

The gift of the Holy Spirit has transformed and continues to transform the lives of those who receive it into a magnet of unity and peace.

May this gift inspire you and accompany you all the days of your mortal life.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy

NOTE: Fr. Hugh Duffy will be accompanying a tour of the Holy Land and Jordan scheduled for October 30 to November 9, 2019. For more information and reservations, contact Ligia Estrada (KLC) in the U.S. at 305-842-9896