One of the stories in the Indian epic Mahabharata begins with Arjuna asking Krishna, “Why Karna is known to be more bounteous than me?” In response, Krishna showed a gold mountain and asked Arjuna to distribute it to the people in a day.
Arjuna went to the mountain and began to break the gold mountain rock by rock. He seemed to make little progress. So, the same task was assigned to Karna. Karna provided people with tools to break the gold mountain and asked them to take what they needed. In a few hours, the entire mountain had vanished.
As the time for Jesus’ ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit draws near, Jesus realizes that it is time for him to move on. So he prepares his disciples to envision the road ahead without his physical presence but with the power of the Holy Spirit. As Karna provided tools for the people to break the gold mountain, Jesus promises to empower them with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I was trying to grasp the meaning of what Jesus meant when he said, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” An advantage greater than Jesus! Think about that for a second… At times I wished that Jesus after he rose from the dead, could stick around and walk among us. So that we could take advantage of his healing touch, meet Him face to face and ask questions we always wanted to ask. Why couldn’t Jesus simply remain with us, and at the same time sent the Holy Spirit?
Well the event of Pentecost solves this perplexity. The Holy Spirit is sent to complete God’s work IN us. While Jesus takes on human flesh and becomes one of us, the Holy Spirit enters into humanity to dwell IN each of us. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling IN us, and shares with us His gifts, His power, His life! That is definitely to our advantage! No longer are we children of darkness and sin. The Holy Spirit has transformed us as children of God. That is the promise of Christ; that is the promise of hope.
At this difficult time of the pandemic, we are puzzled like the disciples in today’s passage, unable to see the road ahead! We feel that everything is bearing down on us.
Can we trust him and his promise of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts and show us the path ahead?
Father Jilson Tom, C.S.C. is from the Northeast India Province of Holy Cross. A native of Kerala, Father Jilson has been serving in a parish and school ministry since his ordination twelve years ago. He joins the Family Rosary team as an Assistant, while he works to study Pastoral Counseling in the Boston area. With a personal devotion to Mother Mary, Father Jilson is thrilled to be working to enhance family prayer through the Rosary. And if you ever need a listening ear or want to play a board game, Father Jilson’s your guy!
