Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 42

Read Ahead: Acts 2:1-11

Receiving the Spirit of Racial Justice

As we enter into the last week of our Discernment Series for Racial Justice, we pray with the story of Pentecost, told to us yesterday at mass. This is the culmination of the Easter Joy we have been praying with over these weeks because it actualizes what Jesus tells us at the end of the Gospel of Luke: he will send the promise of the Father to us (Luke 24:49). Indeed, he promises again in the first chapter of Acts that the Spirit will come and descend among us to aid us in our call to be Jesus’ witness to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:6-8). As we enter into this Pentecost reading, we are invited to ask ourselves how the Spirit of the Lord has personally entered us through this Discernment Series. 

I imagine I am gathered together with fellow Christians on the journey of faith. There is a diversity of people present – which groups are with me? There is a feeling among us, a solidarity despite our differences, despite the fact that we cannot fully understand each other’s languages. What types of diversity do I experience or notice? Who is there? How has my awareness of and gratitude for difference expanded? How might this be Christ’s vision for our Church and our world? 

And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…

I imagine the Holy Spirit coming down among us. What was it like to see the Holy Spirit descend among us? What does it feel like to be filled with the Holy Spirit? When have I experienced or been touched by the Holy Spirit over the course of this Discernment Series, in my prayer, learning, and conversations with others?

I recall what it was like for Jesus to be filled with the Spirit: The Spirit allows him to preach his mission to the world: 

    The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives,
    and recovery of sight to the blind, 
    to let the oppressed go free, 
    and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. 

    (Luke 4:18-19)

In the Church, Pentecost is our invitation to join in the mission of Jesus, to allow the Spirit to embolden our hearts and minds to participate in Jesus’ good news, to spread the Gospel to the farthest of lands, to be united as one human community without divisions, all understanding each other despite our diversity. I imagine what it means to take on the same call Jesus received – to journey with the poor and the marginalized, to proclaim now is the time.

The Spirit of God allowed Jesus to work to let the oppressed go free. Now, in our Pentecost, I imagine we stand together, taking in the Spirit’s mandate to us. How will I work to let the oppressed go free? How is the Holy Spirit inviting me to celebrate the diversity of peoples present among me? How am I called to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim this message? 

The Spirit of the Lord is truly among us, coming into us so we are God’s co-laborers, God’s servants in the world. The Spirit which compels us to let the oppressed go free is the same Spirit that liberates the Israelites from slavery, the same Spirit that is with every moment for liberation. It is the Spirit of racial justice – the Spirit that gave strength to so many fighting against racism in our country. I recall some examples where the Spirit was active in the struggle for justice: offering resilience and strength to African American slaves, leading the Civil Rights Movement, and stirring the hearts and minds of Americans when Martin Luther King Jr spoke, in the work of Cesar Chavez for farmworkers. What else comes to mind? What does the Spirit tell me about my call for racial justice? 

Resource: Now is the Time

Questions for Reflection: