• Home
• >
• News & Events
• >
• News Articles
• >
• 2025
• >
• June
• >
• 6/8 Bishop's Homily for Pentecost
• >

News Articles

Bishop Homily for Pentecost Sunday

June 8, 2025

(lunika Volodymyr / Shutterstock.com)

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu

[St. Joseph Church, Makawao (Confirmation & First Holy Communion); Maria Lanakila Church, Lahaina (Confirmation & First Holy Communion); St. Anthony Church, Wailuku (Confirmation & First Holy Communion)]

Someone recently pointed out that at its very beginning, the entire Church of Jesus Christ fit into one room, a room we hear about in today’s reading, where the disciples of Jesus were gathered with Mary, his mother.  Now there are 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, and who knows how many more Protestants and others who believe in Jesus – not to mention the billions who have been his followers over the past twenty centuries.  How did such a rapid growth in believers happen?  You just heard the story of how it happened!  The Holy Spirit came on the scene in a dramatic way, and sent that little band of apostles out, speaking every language of the world, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.  And we are part of that communion of saints that proclaims that Jesus is Lord!

But, lest we celebrate this wonderful fact too quickly, it must be said that the majority of people who live in our country do not know Jesus except as a person from the history books.  They have no relationship with him, and have not explicitly felt his love for them.  And, of course, this is why we are gathered here today, so that from this room we can go out to our homes, schools, workplaces and communities, filled with the Holy Spirit, to tell everyone that we have encountered the risen Lord.

The very same Holy Spirit who came down so dramatically as a strong, driving wind and as tongues of fire resting on each disciple of Jesus on that first Pentecost, comes down today in the sacrament of Confirmation to set your tongues on fire, to proclaim the glory of God, and to do so in many languages and expressions.  We speak not only of national languages such as English, Spanish, or Tagalog, but of the language of little kids, of teens, of the elderly; the language of students and sports enthusiasts, of teachers and politicians.  It is that same Holy Spirit who is being breathed out upon you today so that you can go out of the safety of this room, this church building, to proclaim the mighty acts of God.

We might say, “Well, the Apostles were lucky, because they actually saw the risen Jesus. He stood right before them, showed them the wounds on his hands and side, and spoke to them.”  But did he not say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”? And did he not say that he is the living bread come down from heaven?  So we actually do have a physical encounter with the risen Lord Jesus every time we receive him in Holy Communion.  This is why your First Holy Communion is so important.  But it should never be your last Holy Communion for a long time.  You will feel the love and forgiveness of Jesus the closer you come to him, the more you nurture this relationship with him every Sunday – or more often, if possible – over your entire lifetime.  His love will be a great gift to you, but it will also compel you to go out, as the first Apostles did after their encounter with the risen Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit, to share his love with others.  1.4 billion Catholics is a drop in the bucket compared to all who do not yet know the love of Jesus, and how will they ever know, unless we go out and tell them about this love.

When you reach out to someone who is suffering because of your love for Jesus, you open their hearts to his love.  When you stand up for what is right, even when everyone else seems not to care, you will be showing your love for Jesus, and while some may reject you, others will notice and be inspired to follow Jesus, too.  When you speak the language of sports, or family, of friends; or the language of the homeless and hungry, you can spread the love of Jesus like wildfire.  And that is why we celebrate this feast of Pentecost, not just to remember the miraculous things that happened long ago, but to realize that they are meant to happen this very day through all of us who have been anointed with the Holy Spirit and have entered into this most intimate and holy communion with the risen Lord Jesus.