Embodiment of the Spirit

As we celebrate the birth of our church on this feast of Pentecost, our readings offer thick, robust accounts of the Holy Spirit at work. The first reading, from Acts, narrates the outpouring of the divine Spirit on what the previous chapter suggests was a gathering of one hundred and twenty believers (Acts 1:15). In the second reading, from 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about the different gifts that come from this same Spirit to each member of the community.  Finally, the Gospel reading from John recalls Jesus breathing on the disciples and inviting them to receive the Spirit.  

While the liturgies of this Sunday’s worship often feature special music, bright red vestments, and various decorative appointments to celebrate Pentecost, the notion of the Spirit and its experience can be elusive. Many think of the realm of the Spirit as remote, separate from our physical realm, in non-perceptible, other-worldly terms. By contrast, we live in a very tangible and sense-based reality. Thus, the notion of the Spirit being poured out at Pentecost, or even the gift of the Spirit in our own lives, may be harder to grasp or make meaningful. 

For too long, western thought has understood the realms of the spiritual and the physical as distinct and unrelated. Such dualism discourages our recognition of encounters with the Spirit and how it may manifest a discernible interaction between these two dimensions of our lives. In Catholic tradition, certain sacraments that impart the Spirit enlist visible physical actions that bridge the gap between spiritual and physical. Baptism and confirmation, for example, give a physical reality to the spiritual. Foreheads are anointed with oil, hands are laid upon one’s head, individuals are dressed in white garments. This Sunday’s readings give other concrete evidence of the connectedness of the spiritual and physical dimensions of our lives.   

In this Sunday’s first reading, the community has an aural, visual, and oratory experience of the bestowal of the Spirit. They hear a noise described with a metaphor, “like a strong driving wind.” Those gathered also see an appearance of tongues, enlisting another metaphor, “as of fire.” They also experience themselves and others speaking in different languages, all gifts of the Spirit. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians offers even more tangibly embodied evidence of the Spirit’s work. He writes that different gifts of the Spirit endow each member of the community as a result of this spiritual outpouring. Thus, as that community and our own witness individual members emerging with special talents to serve various ministries, these gifts become a discernible testimony to the actual workings of this divine Spirit. 

Finally, in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus does not just bestow the Spirit upon his disciples. Instead, he first breathes upon them and then says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retrained” (Jn 20:22-23). As he imparts the Spirit, Jesus does something very physical, just as he has done with his hands, his words, his breath, and his gestures, throughout his life. He physically conveys the spiritual power of God. Thus, Jesus’ ministerial work always disclosed an embodied spirituality. Similarly, with his disciples, he makes the gift of the Spirit a discernible physical experience. He breathes on them as he invites them to receive the Spirit. It is worth noting that while Jesus makes the Spirit freely available, one must be open to its reception, to say yes to this gift.

Thus, as we celebrate Pentecost, our readings remind us that our own reception of the Spirit need not require an altered consciousness or an out-of-body experience. Although we indeed read about such experiences in the lives of the saints, Jesus clearly indicates by his own example to the disciples what the discernible evidence of the Holy Spirit will be: Individuals will be restored to the community and to themselves with the forgiveness of their sins. Hence, our participation in Pentecost this Sunday may be more than a celebration of the workings of the Spirit in our church and its birthday. It may also host an occasion for each of us to take note of just where the Spirit is making its gifts concretely known in our own lives.