Burning Strength Homilies

The Gospel takes place shortly after Jesus's resurrection The Apostles were scared that they also would be put to death So they lock themselves in a room and hide from the Jews and Romans Jesus appears to give them their mission He promises to send the Holy Spirit to them to help them with this mission And in the 1st reading, it doesn't look like too much has changed They saw the risen Jesus They saw Him ascend into heaven Yet they still haven't started Jesus's mission to "go make disciples of all nations" by "teaching them" His "commands" The Holy Spirit realizes this and enters into them in a new way The Spirit stirs in them the gifts that were in them all along Most of them became courageous to the point of martyrdom, dying for Christ   My friends, on that Pentecost day, the fire of the Spirit did not just descend on the disciples and not move When you read the Acts of the Apostles, you hear that it spread It wasn't a destructive force like a wild fire But it was something new, it was a consoling/heal