Nearly 3 months ago, many were commenting about how the COVID-19 crisis was impacting their experience of Lent. Now, as we conclude the Easter season with Pentecost Sunday, the question is, “How did the crisis impact your experience of Easter?”
 
Keep going, how is it impacting your faith, your life and our society? It’s not a matter of the crisis outlasting the holy seasons of Lent and Easter, which are annual observances and will return next year, but how are our lives lifted up with the fruits of Easter and the significance of Pentecost in these difficult times?
 
Among many things, Pentecost celebrates the diversity of humanity as the vineyard of the Church. This character of humanity is not coincidental but manifests God’s creative will. The first disciples faced the overwhelming mission of being sent to teach and baptize all nations. As more and more new and diverse peoples were added to the body of Christ on earth, the more the disciples, indeed all Christians, rejoiced. Greater diversity was a sign of vitality and strength. Pentecost Sunday concludes the Easter season and is also meant to spur us onward just like those first disciples.
 
Such bold endeavors were rooted in the Risen Lord’s reconciling peace with the disciples and all humanity. In truth, Christ’s followers were sent out to be bearers of such reconciliation. In Christ and continually through his Holy Spirit, union is the full flourishing of diversity.
 
Our Church and society have been buffeted by a serious health crisis. Such difficult situations can and should call forth from us the most heroic impulses, similar to what President Abraham Lincoln referred to as the “Better angels of our nature.” A crisis like the one we are facing is best overcome by greater union among all those impacted by it.
 
Unfortunately, we have witnessed in recent times examples of disunity as many frame in political terms a health emergency which has ravaged many families and communities and taken many lives and exposed situations of inequity. Now, the ugliness of racism and violence has reappeared in a city several states away, but brought close to home by the Houston-raised man of color who died there while forcefully subdued by those who were meant to be public servants.
 
Ever wonder why people just can’t get along? Ever wonder what it takes to bring people together? Such experiences and crises remind us of our human and sinful tendency to divide and separate among many lines.  At times, the lines become harsh and violent. We often witness that our communities and society are not large-hearted or open enough for differing perspectives, even though we have so much in common and have one Creator and Redeemer.
 
The “Good News” of our faith, highlighted by today’s readings, is that the Holy Spirit runs much deeper and gives us the eternal and constant possibility of union and forgiveness.  The first task of the Risen Lord when he appears to the disciples after his death and resurrection and after they had betrayed and abandoned him, was to give peace, not retribution. He greets them in a manner worthy of much repetition: “Peace be with you.” Christ came to them and comes to us bringing about reconciliation. Union is more than the intended result, but also meant to be what we desire and strive for.  
 
As St. Paul points out, there are differences among us, but what is most important is that we are one in the Lord by the working of the Holy Spirit. “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit …”  “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body …”
 
We are talking about God’s plan.  What is ours?  Cells divide and subdivide, but not one cell can survive on its own totally separate from the rest. The more we drift from God’s will, his commandments of love, the more divisions among us will spread. The more we separate ourselves from others, the more we separate ourselves from God. 
 
While we might long for union, only the Holy Spirit can make it happen.  It’s not just a matter of coming to agreement on issues.  The coming together and reconciliation we long for is brought about by charity – the authentic love and respect for others.  Charity in thought, words and actions.
 
Such union can become real when we recognize diversity as a hallmark of God’s creation.  Pentecost not only highlights “difference,” it shows us that God seeks to open our minds and hearts to help us go beyond our limitations.
 
Dealing with a diverse world and society can be a daunting task. God sees it all as incredible richness.  Sin makes us view it as complicated.  We are called by the Holy Spirit to be one body.  We do not lose our individuality in the process.  Rather, it is about discovering how much we mean to God and others and how much they mean to us.