Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103; Romans 8:8-17; John 14:15-16, 23b-26
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Today is the day we have been preparing for through a series of prayers, novenas, and spiritual programs—it is the feast of Pentecost.
We recall the day when the early disciples and followers of the Lord received, in a significant, powerful, and decisive way, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had promised them.
This day is also celebrated as the birthday of the Church, because on this day, after receiving the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus went out and preached the message of salvation to everyone—even to those who spoke different languages. On that day alone, about three thousand were added to the number of believers.
Each year, when we celebrate Pentecost, we are not just remembering an event that happened in the past and was perfected then. Rather, we are opening ourselves in faith to a new experience of the Holy Spirit—a fresh refilling; a renewed encounter.
This year, I feel moved to share something the Lord laid strongly on my heart during our pilgrimage in Medjugorje. It is the cry of the Psalm today, a desperate plea:
“Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.”
Dear friends, let this be our cry today. Let us ask God to send His Spirit again and renew the face of the earth.
We need renewal everywhere. Our world is divided, wounded, and broken—torn by war, violence, human cruelty, injustice, corruption, and hatred.
The earth is tired. It has taken more blood than it can bear. It has been abused, exploited, and corrupted by sin and greed. It is groaning and reacting. The Bible says:
“All creation is groaning… awaiting redemption and freedom from this sentence of decay” (Romans 8:20–22).
Families today are broken, divided, tired, joyless—torn apart by pride, infidelity, dishonesty, unforgiveness, anger, and the loss of love.
Many parishes have grown cold, lifeless, and spiritless—characterised by ignorance, fatigue, scandal, division, and struggles for control and dominance. Liturgies are celebrated without the Spirit: no power, no conversion, no growth, no encounter—just religion, structures, tradition, collections, policies, politics, and more programmes.
Many Christians are now dry. There is no passion for evangelisation, no authenticity—just pretence instead of holiness, Confession without contrition, and many hearts hardened by sin.
Dear friends, we cannot fix all of this with policies, structures, or human enthusiasm alone. We need to cry out to the Holy Spirit. We need Him to fall afresh—upon our world, upon creation, upon families, and upon our parishes.
But true renewal begins from within. God can renew the face of the earth without us, but He wants that renewal to start from our hearts. He wants to renew you—so that you may become an instrument of renewal in the world.
The Holy Spirit is the agent of this renewal.
In Genesis, He hovered over the waters and brought order out of chaos, light out of darkness, and beauty out of nothing.
In Ezekiel 37, He blew through the valley of dry bones and brought life to the lifeless.
On Pentecost, He came as wind and fire to create a new people—the Church.
The Holy Spirit is saying to us today:
“I can repair the world. I can renew the face of the earth. I can make your family new. I can set fire to your parish again. I can breathe new life into you.”
Let us not be afraid to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit today. He does not destroy—He renews. He does not replace—He restores.
So today, let us cry out—not as a ritual, but as children calling on their Father, begging for fire:
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill my heart. Renew me. Renew our world. Renew our families. Renew the face of the earth.
Sermon preached by Fr Emmanuel G. Okami on Sunday, June 8, 2025