The Missionary Spirit

Fr Oluwafemi Victor Orilua CSSp

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the early believers-an event that gave birth to the Church and sent her forth as a missionary community. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, who gathered people of different races, languages, and backgrounds and made them one family as brothers and sisters in Christ. He is the Spirit of communion, the same divine love and unity shared within the Holy Trinity

The episode at the tower of babel has shown that God made us to be pilgrims here on earth. He made us to be missionary in nature.At the tower of babel, the people had one language and few words. United, they were achieving their aim of building a tower towards heaven, but God confused their language, not because He is an author of confusion, but to make them fulfil the purpose for which he made them. “He had commanded them to increase and multiply and subdue the earth” Gen.1:28. Instead, they chose to establish themselves just in one place, as they said, “…lest we are scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” Genesis 11:1-4. The Lord wanted them to extend their reach to every corner of the earth. He made them missionaries; but they wanted to be at a spot.

Openness to the outside world is a blessing and fulfilment of divine injunction. Moreso, we can’t remain tied down only to our root. God wants a shift. He scattered them in the body; He will still unite them in the spirit. And when He does, He will still send them out again to preach His truth beyond frontiers. They Lord had told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the arrival of the promised Holy Spirit, who will come and send them out.“…And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance…. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language…” They were proclaiming the gospel.

We can see from the passage that the language of the spirit is one, that of love and understanding. “Each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”It is a language of mutual respect. It is a language of the kingdom. “For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”In this kingdom, there is no man or woman, no minority or majority, because number doesn’t count. It is an assembly of the firstborn, where dominance remains a crime. Hebrew 12:22-23

The Lord said, “As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

The spirit as a missionary Spirit wants us to make Him known wherever we go. He calls us to reach out and proclaim the goodness of God wherever we go. Through Him we bear effective witness. Our lifestyle or ways of witnessing can either block the way for people or open the door for them. The bottom line is that we must be ready to make known the goodness of God and form community of love. That is first sign that we are in communion with the Holy Spirit.

May we always listen to the voice of the Spirit and may His peace be established wherever we go. Amen.