May 24, 2026
Revised Common Lectionary
Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21
John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
Lectionary for Mass (RC)
Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 (see 30)
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
Following the death of Jesus, his downhearted and frightened disciples huddled together in the upper room. Like them, most of us know how grief, fear, and disillusionment can leave us feeling powerless and alone. Yet after the ascension of Jesus, the disciples gathered in that very same place and experienced something quite extraordinary.
The power of the Holy Spirit that came upon them on that Day of Pentecost finds powerful expression in the language of breath, wind, and fire. Today’s Scriptures point to the presence and power of the Spirit coming among them—and continuing to come upon us—as the breath of God, a powerful wind, and a consuming fire that leave us changed.
In today’s reading from Acts, the disciples suddenly heard a “sound like the rush of a violent wind” and saw “tongues, as of fire” (Acts 2:2-3). Filled with the Spirit, they were empowered to speak boldly in many languages “as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:4). The wind and fire of the Spirit transformed them from a frightened band to a group of bold witnesses.
The Gospel reading tells the story a bit differently. The Spirit appears here not as wind and fire but in the gentle breath of the risen Christ. Jesus appears among them on the day of resurrection and breathes on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22). The Spirit is his gift to them as he hands over the mission that he has begun: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21).
Today’s Psalm likewise speaks of breath as a key to God’s creative power in giving life: “When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground” (Ps 104:29-30). We know from our own experience that without breath, we perish. Christians who sing or read this Psalm see in this breath the gift of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit who gives life and sustains the entire cosmos.
Taken together, today’s Scriptures use the images of breath, wind, and fire to give us language for the work of the Holy Spirit: to create, give life, impart peace, bring freedom and unity, and bestow gifts on the community of believers. The Spirit is like a violent wind that blows; like a raging fire that consumes and purifies; like breath that gives and sustains life. Neither tame nor controlled by humans, the Spirit creates and renews.
Just as the Spirit gives life, so too does the power of God’s Spirit bring the community of believers into being. Today’s reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians reminds us that we can’t even say “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3b) without the Spirit. This same Spirit gathers us together and bestows the gifts that enable the church’s life and mission.
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4). Paul wrote this message to a Corinthian community that was experiencing deep and harmful divisions, including arguments over whose gifts were the most important. He reminds them that gifts of the Spirit are intended “for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). They are given not for our own sake but for the good of the community and its mission. They are not accomplishments that we achieve but gifts that we receive. Rather than personal possessions to be clung to, they are manifestations of the Spirit to be shared.
The breath, wind, and fire of the Holy Spirit continue to animate our common life today. Each of us has received a gift for building up the church and furthering its mission. Are we paying attention to the Spirit’s wind blowing us into action? Are we putting our gifts at the service of the community? Do we value the gifts of others or do we sometimes seek to extinguish the Spirit acting through them?
May the Spirit set us on fire, blow away the cobwebs, and breathe life into the hearts of those who follow the risen Christ and embrace his mission.
A Hymn for Today: “Wind Who Makes All Winds”
Thomas H. Troeger, FHS, was both a Presbyterian minister and an Episcopal priest. A musician, poet, preacher, and teacher, he spent much of his career teaching homiletics. He was a prolific hymn writer who sought to cast the Gospel in new language that would reflect a modern worldview and capture the imagination of those who would sing his texts. In this hymn for Pentecost, he does precisely that as he incorporates the images of wind, fire, and breath. Listen here to Troeger’s text set to a tune composed for it by his frequent collaborator and late Hymn Society member Carol Doran.
Wind who makes all winds that blow—
gusts that bend the saplings low,
gales that heave the sea in waves,
stirrings in the mind’s deep caves—
aim your breath with steady pow’r
on your church, this day, this hour.
Raise, renew the life we’ve lost,
Spirit God of Pentecost.
Fire who fuels all fires that burn—
suns around which planets turn,
beacons marking reefs and shoals,
shining truth to guide our souls—
come to us as once you came;
burst in tongues of sacred flame!
Light and Power, Might and Strength,
fill your church, its breadth and length.
Holy Spirit, Wind and Flame,
move within our mortal frame.
Make our hearts an altar pyre.
Kindle them with your own fire.
Breath and blow upon that blaze
till our lives, our deed, and ways
speak that tongue which ev’ry land
by your grace shall understand.
Text: Thomas H. Troeger, 1945-2022. © Oxford University Press, Inc. Used by permission under OneLicense #A-729857.
Tunes: ABERYSTWYTH (Parry), FALCONE
Image Credit: Happy Pentecost!, Church of the Holy Spirit, Singapore
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