The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 323: Pentecost (2022)

Episode Date: November 19, 2022

Fr. Mike shares the powerful story of the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles in the upper room. He emphasizes how God calls us to go out into the world with his Spirit and live in community and with devotion to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Eucharist, and prayer just like the first Christians. Today’s readings are Acts 2, Romans 2-3, and Proverbs 26:27-28. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

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Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible and a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. Little known fact, you know what I'm going to say. You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes and daily updates. If you want, if you don't want, don't do it. It is day 323. We're reading the Acts of the Apostles, chapter two, St. Paul's letter to the Romans, chapters two and three, as well as Proverbs chapter 26, verses 27 and 28. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians,

we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others, mocking, said, They are filled with new wine. Peter addresses the crowd. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, God declares, heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. In it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover, my flesh will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with

your presence. Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a stool for your feet.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. The first converts. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received

his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they held steadfastly to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers. Life among the believers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The Letter of St. Paul to the Romans Chapter 2 The Right the righteous judgment of God. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another. For in passing judgment upon him, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things, and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?

Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works. To those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor in mortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are factious and do not obey the truth,

but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their The Jews and the Law and boast of your revelation to God, and know his will, and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in

the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Circumcision indeed is a value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law. For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter

of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men, but from God. Chapter 3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though every man be false, as it is written,

that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. By no means. Let God be true, though every man be false, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. But if our wickedness serves to show the justice of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means. For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am

I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come, as some people slanderously charge us with saying? Their condemnation is just. None is righteous. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written, none is righteous. No, not at all. The throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery. And the way of peace they do not know.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Righteousness through faith.

But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth as an expiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith.

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one, and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. The book of Proverbs chapter 26 verses 27 and 28. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back upon him who starts it rolling a lying tongue hates its victims and a flattering mouth works ruin father in heaven give you praise we thank you so much thank you for your word today thank you for your grace that comes to us through jesus christ we thank you for the Holy Spirit that on this birthday of the

church, this feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit that has worked miracles and has brought the grace of Jesus Christ down all the way down 2,000 years later to us. Help us to receive this Holy Spirit this day. You're a Holy Spirit this day. Keep us alive in your will. Keep us close to your heart. Help us to never wander from you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So yesterday, they were praying for the Holy Spirit, praying for the promise after the ascension, after Jesus ascended into heaven. And here in chapter two of the Acts of the Apostles, we have the coming of the Holy Spirit. They're all gathered together in one place. Here comes this mighty wind that fills the whole room and this fire. The Holy

Spirit comes upon them like tongues of fire. And it began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And one of the things that is so important about this is here's the apostles and the disciples and Mary. They're gathered together, 120 of them. What happens? They receive the power of the Holy Spirit. And what do they do? They don't just kind of seek that feeling. They don't seek the experience. They don't hold on to this. Oh, this is great. You know, sometimes we can be tempted when we have a religious experience to kind of get into what you might call a holy huddle, right? That kind of like does huddle up. Let's go back to this huddle where we, wow, this is a powerful moment. This is a great moment. I'm feeling really close to you, feeling really close to God. That is a gift. If that ever has happened in your life, that is always a gift. But that's not the end. That's not

the goal. The goal is to receive that power of the Holy Spirit so that we can do what the apostles do here in chapter two, which is receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to go out. And that's exactly what they do. They basically break down the door, kick down the door and get out into the world and begin to proclaim Jesus Christ risen from the dead. And, you know, here is Peter's speech. I remember reading Peter's speech years and years ago, just thinking, what is it that convicts hearts? Like, well, how do you talk about Jesus in such a way that 3000 people are baptized in one day? I wanted a little, you know, the secret sauce to Peter's homiletics, to Peter's preaching. And I read through it and I remember being underwhelmed,

being underwhelmed by Peter's addressing the crowd, this sermon on Pentecost Day. And we recognize that what is it that converts hearts? What is it that convicts hearts? It is always the Holy Spirit. That it is rarely the preacher's cleverness. It's rarely the preacher's way with words. It is always the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's the only one who can instigate conversion. The Holy Spirit's the

only one who can convict hearts. And that's what happens is that Peter was given this gift of the Holy Spirit and he walked in the Holy Spirit. He spoke in the Holy Spirit. He lived in the Holy Spirit. And because of that, so many people, they asked the question, what do we do? And he says, repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This promise is for you and for your children, for all those who are far off. Repent and be baptized. This is so key, so critical. Jesus had sent them out. Remember he said at the end of Matthew's gospel, he says, behold, I'm with you all ways to the end of the age. And they go out and baptize. And that baptism is something that Jesus had even told them at the end of Matthew's gospel.

Jesus had sent them out and said, go out to all the nations, you know, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. Behold, I'm with you always until the end of the age. He told them to go baptize. And here is this first day, this first day of the evangelizing program. They say, what do we do? And Peter knows the answer, get baptized, because that's exactly what Jesus had told them to go out and do. But then also, this is so remarkable, in Acts 2 42, it says, they held steadfastly to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the

bread and to the prayers. These four things, the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of the bread, and prayers, are these four marks of the church. They're four marks of the early church, essentially, right? So they're staying close to the apostles. In fact, later on, you know, years and years and years later, in the first century, you'll hear some of those early Christian writers saying that if you don't stay close to your bishop, bishops being the successor of the apostles, then you're not close to Jesus. If you want to know if you're close to Jesus, are you close to your bishop? Meaning do you follow what the successors of the apostles teach? So the first thing, apostles teaching and fellowship, that sense of being able to say, okay, this is a community

that we don't just see each other on Sundays. We actually have this depth of fellowship. We actually quote unquote do life together. And that's a really important thing. And the question we can ask ourselves is, do I have brotherhood among my fellow Christians? Do I have sisterhood among my fellow Christians? Do I have fellowship? If I don't, that might be an area where God is calling me to have something like this.

To the breaking of the bread, that's been code. Breaking of the bread is code for the mass. Ever since the beginning, like, you know, we heard about it in Luke chapter 24, at the end of Luke's gospel, where Cleopas and Mrs. Cleopas, they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. And it wasn't just because he broke a piece of pita bread. It was the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread. That's what they gathered for and to the prayers because prayer defined their life. And so that's such a huge thing. And Romans,

this is, as I said, St. Paul's letter to the Romans is his masterpiece. It's incredible. And the Holy Spirit is his coauthor. So that's pretty amazing. But here is St. Paul. And remember yesterday, we talked about how in chapter one, St. Paul is noting that everyone, even if they have no idea of the law, they have no idea of the Old Testament, everyone knows that God exists just by looking at the world. And not only that, by using common sense, essentially, you can know what's right and what's wrong simply by looking at the world. In chapter two and three, St. Paul goes on to talk about how here, those who were raised Jewish though,

you were actually raised with God's revelation. You're not only raised with God's revelation, you're raised with God's promise. This covenant in the Old Testament to be able to like walk with the Lord, to be able to know who he is, the depth of his heart, who God is. And yet, just like those people who weren't Jewish and should know that God exists and how to worship him, but didn't, here are the Jews who were given so many more gifts and they should have followed God and they should have worshiped him and they should have been obedient to him, but they weren't as well. And so here's the thing. We have this, the natural people, you know, and in some ways supernatural Jewish people and all people are then falling.

That's why you have that section in chapter three about none is righteous. And it's all these quotes from the old Testament talking about none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks after God goes on. There's no fear of God before their eyes and their paths are ruined and misery. Their feet are swift to shed blood. All these are quotes from the old Testament highlighting the fact that even those who

are under the law, even those who are in the old covenant, even them, I mean, we heard you guys, we read almost 300 days of Old Testament, actually over 300 days of Old Testament. And how many people were faithful? There were a couple of standouts. But even then, we know that the righteous person falls seven times a day. And so what's the remedy? What is the answer? And St. Paul says, here's the answer.

It's in chapter 3, beginning with verse 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law of the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus, is that all have fallen short. And that we could try all that we want. We could strive after the Lord with everything we have and it still wouldn't be enough. So what do we do? Well, the Lord has come to us and he's made of himself a sacrifice.

And in that he's redeemed us. He's brought us back from the kingdom of darkness with power of Satan. And he's brought us into his kingdom. He's brought us into the light. He's given us mercy. He's given us grace. He's given us this new life. And that's why St. Paul goes on to say in verse 27, then what becomes of our boasting? It's excluded. There's no room for it at all because of the principle of faith. For you hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Ah, so good. This is incredible. It's incredible. Now, he's going to go on to talk about examples of faith, like Abraham and the results of justification later on as we go into tomorrow. But right now, we just recognize here is the gospel. The heart of the gospel

is that no matter how hard we would work, no matter how much we'd strive to be good, it would never be enough. And the good news is it doesn't have to be enough because the Father's offered his Son and the Son has offered himself for your redemption, for my redemption. And so what we get to do is we get to receive it. We get to receive his grace.

We get to receive his redemption. We get to receive his love. And that's walking in faith. Having the obedience, as St. Paul says in Romans chapter one, the obedience of faith. Now we obey him and we belong to him, which is pretty phenomenal. It's pretty amazing.

I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.