Yesterday we honoured the birth of an awkward and stimulating at the same time personality: John the Baptist. That’s why he was a prophet. However he was not setting an office to offer future reading to his clients. A prophet is the person who senses the God’s plan in the world and who unwraps and announces the will of God, the irrevocable influx of grace. A prophet’s message is like a pebble in the shoe. It is impossible to miss it. The young man from today’s first reading whose name was Jeremiah was such a pebble. He was uncomfortable even to his own friends and relations. He made a bitter acknowledgement: “Those who used to be my friends watched for my downfall.”
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
            As we listen to the great prophets of the Bible let us also remember that by virtue of our own baptism we are anointed prophets, priests and kings. With that anointing at the baptism we are also given the Good News, the divine message.
Firstly the message is given to us to transform us into the message. Our Blessed Lord doesn’t want us to distribute anonymous flyers with his message. On the contrary he calls us “to declare ourselves for him in the presence of the people.” A prophet doesn’t deliver the message and then runs away. A prophet lives the message.
Secondly the message is given to us to be shared personally with others: “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in the whispers, proclaim from the housetops” said Jesus.
            That’s why someone said that there are two ways to do away with prophets. The first way is to tame the prophet. Such a prophet is not a pebble in the shoe anymore because what they say and the way they live doesn’t pose any challenge to anyone. The second way to do away with a prophet is to kill them: physically, emotionally or socially. The most common way is to call them mad. However it is nothing new. The Hebrew word for prophet has the implication of madman. However when for some centuries leading up to the time of Jesus those mad people ceased to appear in the midst of Israel people became uneasy. They had the Bible. They had their prayers and sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple but they were missing the voice of God resonating through the prophets.
            My Dear Fellow believers! Or maybe I should say: My Dear Fellow prophets. Please do not get tamed. Preserve the taste of the Gospel by believing and living it to such extent that your very presence in the midst of the society speaks about God. If you are afraid that because of the faith in Christ and surrendering your life to the Lord you are seen as an annoying pebble in the shoe invest more in learning and living your Christian faith. Don’t wait for an angel to give you clever answers to silence your opponents but deepen your faith by loving what you learn. That prophetic knowledge doesn’t come magically but comes from a committed and constant study, reflection and prayer. Turn to your favourite saints not only to ask them for favours but to learn from their holy experience. Most of those saints have left us a considerable reading material. It is a reach mine of precious germs for us though for some those germens will be annoying pebbles. Finally I would like to encourage you to read regularly the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In that book we can find the richness of the lived faith of many generations of people who didn’t get tamed. They were true prophets. To some mad, to God his messengers.

St Simeon Metaphrates in the tenth century wrote a prayer which flew from his contemplation of the mystery of the Eucharist:
“O you who, of your own good will, gave me your Body for food,
You who are a fire consuming the unworthy;
Consume me not, O my Creator,
But rather enter into my limbs, my joints, my heart,
And burn the tares of my transgressions.
Cleanse my limbs, together with my bones.
Enlighten my five senses. Stablish my wholly in your fear.”
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ captures the continuation of the mystery of the Incarnation. The tangibility of the Eucharist has its foundation in the physicality of the Son of God who for us and for our salvation was incarnate and became man. God appeared in the midst of his people in a physical form so that his physicality could become a means of divine communication. However for some it became a stumbling block. Some people couldn’t comprehend that the Creator was willing to take the form of a creature. “We know his father Joseph. We know his family. As for the Messiah no one will know where he comes from” were the arguments of some of Jesus’ contemporaries. When Jesus began saying in the synagogue in Capernaum: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world” he met a similar resistance, the resistance which somehow rather has been part of Christian journey for two thousand years. The challenge posed by the Jews from the synagogue in Capernaum: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” has been recurring. Maybe you yourselves have been faced with challenging questions about Jesus’ Body and Blood which we receive at Mass. How does it make sense?
            Let us first meditate on how Jesus himself reacted to the question of his contemporaries: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” The Jews murmured because the word flesh which Jesus used means: “the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood.” Jesus was not speaking symbolically or figuratively. It was the language of tangibility. When our Blessed Lord realised that his message was meeting with a contradiction he didn’t soften it or watered it down. On the contrary he moved from using eating to masticating in relation to his flesh. Eating can be used symbolically or poetically like: “eat your heart out,” “eating something up,” “eating my dust” or “eating a horse.” Masticating is not poetic at all. It is very scientific, very physical; as physical as his flesh Jesus gives his Church at the Eucharist.
            My Dear Fellow believers! Our faith in the Eucharist suffers when our faith in Jesus suffers. That’s why after that conversation in the synagogue many of Jesus’ disciples left him. The message about his Body and Blood to be masticated and drunk became a stumbling block for them as their faith is Jesus was week. On the contrary Peter watching others walk away declared on behalf of the Apostles: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Did the Twelve understand more than the others did? Probably not. However the approach of the Peter and the other Apostles points out to what we say after the consecration of the bread and wine: “The mystery of faith.”  Do you realise that we don’t say: “The problem of faith”? A problem is something people attempt to solve. A mystery is something people uphold, contemplate, trust and surrender to. It is something that transforms them from within.
            As St Simeon Metaphrates upheld, contemplate, trusted and surrendered to the mystery of the Eucharist which transformed him from within a thousand years ago as we, on this great solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, uphold, contemplate, trust and surrender to the mystery of the Eucharist believing it transforms us from within into an image of God.

            In the fourth century St Ephraem contemplating the mystery of the Blessed Trinity asked: “Who would give a name to something which itself doesn’t exist?” The Church father reinforced what we reflected on last Sunday: “What is the point of saying empty words?” God doesn’t say empty words. There is no difference between his words and truth. It is the same thing. When Jesus spoke of his Father he wasn’t speaking like an orphan who has never seen their parent and is imagining mum or dad. Jesus spoke with such “authority,” because he spoke of what he had known for himself. He spoke of his Father with such “authority” because he came from the Father. When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit he also spoke with “authority” because he knew the Holy Spirit so well that he was certain that the Holy Spirit would love to descend on the young Church. He knew the mind of the Holy Spirit. Enlightened by the same Spirt the Church very soon picked up that God is not a lonely ranger but that the God who spoke to Moses, as we could hear in our First Reading, the God who “came with his people” Israel and who remained in their midst, the God revealed in the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Most Blessed Trinity.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! So many people speak about unity these days. So many people get furious at a certain politician who wants to build a wall but at the same time the same people build emotional, social and ideological walls to separate those who don’t share their views. What Christians offer to this discussion on the unity between individuals and nations is that such a unity can be only achieved in God. That’s why at the baptism and at the Easter Vigil when the baptismal promises are made or renewed we hear: “Do you believe in God, the Father almighty? … Do you believe in Jesus Christ? … Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?” Although “I do” is the correct answer, surrendering one’s life to God in trust and joy is the right attitude.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read: “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life.” However the mystery we celebrate this Sunday is also the key to the unity of humankind. The only unity which can be established is the unity in God. All the other forms of unity sooner or later will fall apart.
Eleven years ago Pope Benedict said: “Faith is the gift, given to us in Baptism, which makes our encounter with God possible. God is hidden in mystery; to claim to understand him would mean to want to confine him within our thinking and knowing and consequently to lose him irremediably. With faith, however, we can … “touch” the living God. And God once touched, immediately gives us power.” In the words of the great Pope I can hear an echo of the Church father, St Ephraem, who directed the contemplation on the mystery of the Trinity to the symbols of fire, light and warmth. In fire which always gives light he acknowledged the Father who gives his Son. In the fire and the light giving warmth he acknowledged the Father and the Son giving the Holy Spirt. As it is impossible to imagine fire and light without warmth as it is impossible to imagine the Father and the Son without the Holy Spirit.
My Dear Friends we may feel tempted to take shortcuts in our efforts to establish unity in our families, friendships, parishes, societies, nations etc. However the unity needs to resemble the dynamic of giving and self-giving as we heard in the Gospel: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son.” When God gave his Son to the world he ultimately responded to Moses’ request made on the holy mountains: “If I have indeed won your favour, Lord, said Moses – let the Lord come with us.” When Moses stood in the presence of the Almighty he forgot himself because his mind was filled with the images of the people gone astray. Moses was so penetrated by God that he resembled God’s approach. In the presence of God Moses was a petitioner on behalf of his fellow women and men.
As we continue building our faith communion with God and with each other let us be encouraged by the words of St Paul from the Second Reading who in the sin stricken community of believers in Corinth already saw the signs of God communion. Let us keep our gaze on the Trinity as we desire unity among ourselves.
“The grace of the lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

            St Paul in the Letter to the Corinthians wrote: “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” Phonetically every one, who can speak, can utter these three words; however what the point of saying it if the words do not reflect what is in the heart. St Paul in our second reading doesn’t refer to such a case. On the contrary he writes about Christians whose words do reveal what is in their hearts, minds and souls. If someone declares with honesty and humility “Jesus is Lord” it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, because only the Holy Spirit can arise in us faith which a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Such a Christian then is constantly under the influence. I mean the Holy Spirit.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers gathered here to commemorate the Day of Pentecost! I realise that in our era dominated by doubt about things which don’t appear tangible some testing may be required, some kind of breathalyser, to detect the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Let us embark then on identifying the presence of the Holy Spirit, his influence. The most accurate breathalyser detecting the Holy Spirit is always the Word of God. I believe that the Scripture readings given to us this Sunday can do the job well.
            The First Reading about the Descent of the Holy Spirit, about fire and wind, about the Apostles speaking foreign languages is captivating indeed. However the manifestation of the Holy Spirit wasn’t limited to the Upper Room only. In fact the Holy Spirit also manifested himself at evangelising which happened after. How does it apply to us? The Reading from the Acts of the Apostles is the first, mobile breathalyser. Those who are under the influence of the Holy Spirt cannot be shut up. They evangelise by their very life. Their actions, their prayers, their dreams, their hopes, and sometimes even their words, aim at telling the world that “Jesus is Lord,” because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Someone could say now: How can we know that this evangelising business was not empty words or an oratory show? Well, when police want to investigate further someone they suspect to be under the influence they take them to a specialist laboratory. For our Biblical investigation the Gospel reading provides such a laboratory. After fifty days from Easter Sunday we again listen to the account of the Resurrection. That Easter evening Jesus came to his disciples and said: “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them the breath of life, the breath of the Resurrection. Probably his breath wasn’t as noisy as the noise on the Pentecost, but it was the same Holy Spirit as the Lord said: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” What was the purpose of giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples? “For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven.”
Before the disciples began evangelising they had to look into each other eye with honesty. In the Upper Room in Jerusalem there was no room for pretending to be OK or overlooking sins.
Before the disciples began evangelising they had to look into each other eye with mercy. In the Upper Room in Jerusalem there was no room for nurturing resentment and disappointment.
That community of self-confessed sinners was also a community of forgivers. When they walked out into the streets of Jerusalem 50 days later their credentials were not only their linguistic skills but the community which was backing them. They were able to say to their listeners: “What we are proclaiming to you now is what we are living as a community of followers of Jesus. When you convert you will have sisters and brothers who with realism and compassion will share the journey to the Kingdom.” If someone is under the influence of the Holy Spirt such a person is deeply engaged in his or her community because the Holy Spirit as we profess in our Creed: “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The Holy Spirit is an expert at telling and creating communion, as it is his origin. Those who forgive their broken communities and who, at the same time, turn to their broken communities for forgiveness are always under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They are a means of unity Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper.
I pray for you my Dear Sisters and Brothers, and please pray for me too, that wherever and whenever we are “pulled over” by people who are in need of Good News “out of the abundance of our heart our mouth may speak” giving away that we are “under the influence of the Holy Spirit.”
Blessed Pentecost!