In Genesis, they hid.
Up in the room, trembling—
One hundred and twenty in number,
None daring to exodus the door,
For fear the Levites would take their heads.

Ten days since He left—
When will His Deutero-coming be?

They had a leader—Peter,
But he, the most fearful of all.
What now? How next?
Was our sacrifice worth it?
Was abandoning our boats a worthy risk?

Though they prayed, fear sat among them,
A constant companion.
Only a mother comforted them,
While the world outside loomed like a beast.

Then—suddenly—a thunderous wind roared.
John cried, “Peter, your head is burning!”
Peter saw the same on him.
But like Moses with the bush,
They all burned with fire—
Yet none were consumed.

With mouths opened,
They praised God in tongues unknown to their learning.
Out into the streets their voices spilled—
“Are those Galilean fishermen speaking Arabic?”
“No—Spanish!”
“That’s pure Greek!”
“But these men are unlearned—how is it possible?”

Without courage they once hid.
Now the most fearful stepped forward.
He shouted to the crowd:
“Jesus is risen!
Only in Him is salvation!”

“Wait—is that Peter?” Marcus asked,
“The same man who cowered before a servant girl?”

Yes, the same man—
Now made new,
Transformed from within.
It was the Spirit of Christ—
The Holy Spirit.

Out from the Upper Room, He scattered them—
From Jerusalem to Samaria,
Judea to the ends of the earth.

But today, the Church remains,
Still in the Upper Room.
Not fearing the Jews,
But cuddling the one sheep found—
While the ninety-nine wander in darkness.

We do not reach out,
Lest we be called “fanatics,”
Or worse—
“Offensive.”
The ninety-nine still languish,
Yet the Master’s call persists:
Go .

When will she arise?
When will she obey
The words proclaimed at the end of every Mass?

And so we pray—
Not knowing fully how to ask:
Come, Holy Spirit.
Creator Spirit, come.
Scatter your Church again like seeds.
Push us into the world to proclaim.
Send us to Samaria, even to Antioch.

Come, Holy Spirit,
Set our bones ablaze.
Make us restless
Until we cry aloud:
JESUS IS LORD —
To the ends of time.

Come, Holy Spirit,
Light the tongues again.
Not to warm the faithful,
But to scatter them,
As wind to embers —
That the world may burn with Christ.

Come, Holy Spirit. Come.
Your Pentecost is always needed—
Especially now.