THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US EVERYTHING
PENTECOST SUNDAY YEAR C, 8TH JUNE, 2025, ST. MARTIN’S PARISH, LUGBE, ABUJA. HOMILY BY ARCHBISHOP I.A. KAIGAMA
1st Reading Acts 2:1-11; 2nd Reading 8:8-17; Gospel John 14:15-16.23b-26
THEME: THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US EVERYTHING (John 14:26)
My dear people of St. Martin’s parish Lugbe and your parish priest, Fr. John Obi, and his associate, Fr. James Ejeh, I am happy to be with you once more, especially on this day of Pentecost. I was supposed to be with you two Sundays ago, but due to the new Pope’s inaugural Mass of his papacy in Rome, and as I was part of Nigeria’s delegation, I had to give you this new date. I am happy to see you looking very ready to receive the new gifts from the Holy Spirit. I am also here to pray with you, to encourage you in your journey of faith, and to confer the sacrament of confirmation on 315 of your parishioners.
Fifty days after Easter, a powerful wind blew over Jerusalem and the flame of the Holy Spirit descended on the gathered disciples. It came to rest upon the head of each of them and ignited in them a divine fire, a fire of love, capable of transforming things. Their fear disappeared, their hearts were filled with new strength, their tongues were loosened, and they began to speak freely, in such a way that everyone could understand the news that Jesus Christ had died and was risen. On Pentecost day, where there was division and incomprehension, unity and understanding were born. The Church was born to become a voice to the nations.
In this solemn celebration of Pentecost, we are invited to profess our faith in the presence and in the action of the Holy Spirit and to invoke His outpouring upon us, upon the Church, and upon the whole world with a special intensity. Today’s Solemnity of Pentecost invites us to return to the origins of the Church, which, as we affirm in the Second Vatican Council, was “made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit” (Lumen Gentium, no. 2).
The Spirit is indeed the gift that Jesus asked and continues to ask of His Father for His friends. When the Spirit descended upon the timid and fearful apostles, what had paralyzed them before – fear, uncertainty, division – was suddenly broken. The Spirit gives power to speak, courage to act, and unity amidst diversity.
The Son of God, dead and risen and returned to the Father, now breathes with untold energy the divine breath upon humanity, the Holy Spirit. And what does this new and powerful self-communication of God produce? Where there are divisions and estrangement, the Paraclete creates unity and understanding. The Spirit triggers a process of reunification of the divided and dispersed parts of the human family, a new body, the Church is formed, whose unity should transcend every human frontier, where all sorts of languages are spoken and understood because they become the language of love.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit manifested as fire, giving the assembled disciples, the new ardour of God. Before Pentecost, they were a collection of confused disciples. After Pentecost, they were totally changed. They were filled with a Spirit that radiated from them and swept across the world like a tidal wave. Those for confirmation today will be sealed with the same Holy Spirit poured out upon the Apostles. The Apostles carried this divine flame to the far corners of the earth. You are required to do the same. You cannot remain indifferent, neither hot nor cold.
To our dear leaders, both those in politics and religious leaders, let us embrace this love that the Lord has planted in us right from the time of creation. We cannot be happy seeing our country collapsing. We must stand together and make things happen. The Apostles were together in prayer when the Holy Spirit descended on them. The scripture said that those who were from other places heard the Apostles speaking in their tongues. Let us not allow our religion, tribes, or political party, to divide us and hinder us from building and achieving progress in our country and Church.
Dear friends, we must live according to the Spirit of unity and truth, and this is why we must pray for the Spirit to enlighten and guide us to overcome the temptation to follow our own truths, so as to welcome the truth of Christ transmitted in the Church.
“Peace be with you.” These were the first words Jesus spoke to His disciples after His resurrection. The Holy Spirit infuses not only peace but also courage and confidence in us and transforms us into fearless preachers of the gospel.
Prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the valley of the dry bones. God took him to a valley filled with dry bones and asked him to speak the word of God to those bones, and the bones stood up clothed with flesh, a great multitude of men. But they seemed impotent because they lacked spirit or breath. Then the Spirit of God gave them breath, and they became a mighty army. God said to the prophet that those dry bones were the whole houses of Israel, who think that they are dead, hopeless, and useless like the dry bones. But God promised through the prophet that they would be resuscitated and invigorated through the Spirit of God (Cf. Chp. 37).
That’s how our country is. We may be tempted to give up hope that we are alive, but when we allow ourselves to become the temples of the Holy Spirit, we become invigorated. The Holy Spirit becomes our teacher, our counsellor, our guide, etc.
What do we do after the celebration of Pentecost? Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church that even though we are God’s Chosen people, we often behave more like God’s frozen people. God’s frozen people indeed: frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, and frozen in the way we celebrate our faith. We don’t seem to be happy to be in God’s house; we are always in a hurry to get it over and done with as soon as possible. So, today is a great day to stand still and ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life, enthusiasm, and the fire of God’s love.
Pentecost also invites us to reflect on the diversity and yet unity within the Church. The Spirit unites us as one body, despite our differences, and calls us to embrace the richness of our faith traditions and cultural diversity. Saint Paul reminds us that “though we are many, we are one body in Christ” (1 Cor 12:12). The Spirit did not erase diversity; He sanctified it. And so, within the Church, different gifts, different vocations, and different cultures all come together in harmony, not competition.
I am sure, here too in your parish, there are many and different groups of people from different parts of the country and even the world, yet you are called to be one family in Christ. In the Spirit, we are one. Let us not let our differences divide us. Rather, let the Spirit bind us in love and service, in truth and forgiveness, in peace and purpose, so that we may be able to speak the language of love, the only language that can be understood by all, uniting us into one family.
To our dear candidates, today, that same Spirit is coming upon you; you are now called to live as full members of the Church, with the strength and grace to live the Gospel boldly. In the Second Reading, St. Paul tells us something very profound: “You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Rom 8:15) The word “Abba” is that intimate word for father and it is something only the Spirit can help us truly say from the heart.
Remember, your confirmation is not a graduation from Church. It is a missioning/sending forth, it is a beginning. Christ now says to you what He said to the Apostles: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord—are not decorations. They are your tools for life. Use them. The Church today does not need more spectators. It needs disciples on fire, men and women who will bring the Gospel into their homes, workplaces and communities.
To all of us here, young and old: let Pentecost not be a memory, but a renewal. We need the presence of the Spirit in our homes, in our marriages, in our politics, in our economy, in our schools—and yes, in our Church. May Mary the Spouse of the Holy Spirit continue to intercede for us.
Happy Pentecost!
