Theme of the Readings

FROM THE ARCHIVES (1999)

The Spirit, present and active among the Twelve and the first Christian community, enlivens the liturgy of the Word. In the Gospel the risen Jesus says to the Twelve: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In the First Reading, 50 days after Easter a powerful wind fills the Upper Room and “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” In the second reading, concerning the temptation of the Corinthians to use their gifts to create divisions, Paul forcefully asserts: “There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit” and “the particular way the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.”

Pastoral Suggestions

Of course, in the Church today one cannot speak of the Espiritu, ese desconocido (The Spirit, this stranger), the title of a book published in the 50’s. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has become increasingly aware of the presence and action of the Spirit in communities of Christian believers. Even more, the Church’s awareness of the Spirit’s action is also growing outside the bounds of Christianity. It is lovely to see the Holy Spirit working in all humanity, in different forms and with varying intensity, because “all that is good, right and perfect,” wherever it is found, comes from him.

In our times, certain abuses or at least exaggerations committed “in the name of the Spirit” must nevertheless be noted. But it is true that the years in which people opposed the charism and the institution of the Church, the action of the Spirit and the strength of the Word with unwonted vigor belong to the past. But doesn’t something of this still remain in our communities? Aren’t the institution of the Church and the hierarchy easily criticized in the name of some gift or other? Isn’t it sometimes forgotten that the Apostle, and therefore the institution, is the first of the gifts? The Feast of Pentecost encourages a straightforward but precise and full explanation of the gifts in the Church and of the Holy Spirit as the one source of all gifts.

In the context of our ministry or in our diocese perhaps there is another exaggeration or abuse “in the name of the Spirit”: division because of the gifts. I am referring in particular to those extraordinary gifts which God has given today’s Church: the ecclesial movements, the lay associations, the new religious congregations and institutes, the new initiatives of “charismatic” persons or institutional groups in the area of pastoral ministry. This is a new situation in the Church, in dioceses, in parishes, among the various movements and associations, and it is obvious that there would be certain tensions, misunderstandings and lack of collaboration as well, at times, as opposition. With regard to a possible situation of this kind, it is right to remember that all charisms lead to unity and contribute to the good of one and all: they are organs of the same body which is the Church. Charity, good understanding, breadth of horizons, discernment, the prevalence of the common good over the individual good and a sense of Church must always prevail.

Today concludes the Easter season, the fifty days that, from Jesus’ resurrection to Pentecost, are marked in a particular way by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is in fact the Easter Gift par excellence. He is the Creator Spirit, who constantly brings about new things. Today’s readings show us two of those new things. In the first reading, the Spirit makes of the disciples a new people; in the Gospel, he creates in the disciples a new heart.

The Harmony of Diversity and Unity

A new people. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came down from heaven, in the form of “divided tongues, as of fire… [that] rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages” (Acts 2:3-4). This is how the word of God describes the working of the Spirit: first he rests on each and then brings all of them together in fellowship. To each he gives a gift, and then gathers them all into unity.

In other words, the same Spirit creates diversity and unity, and in this way forms a new, diverse and unified people: the universal Church. First, in a way both creative and unexpected, he generates diversity, for in every age he causes new and varied charisms to blossom. Then he brings about unity: he joins together, gathers and restores harmony: “By his presence and his activity, the Spirit draws into unity spirits that are distinct and separate among themselves” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, XI, 11). He does so in a way that effects true union, according to God’s will, a union that is not uniformity, but unity in difference.

Avoiding the Temptations of
Division and Uniformity

For this to happen, we need to avoid two recurrent temptations. The first temptation seeks diversity without unity. This happens when we want to separate, when we take sides and form parties, when we adopt rigid and airtight positions, when we become locked into our own ideas and ways of doing things, perhaps even thinking that we are better than others, or always in the right, when we become so-called “guardians of the truth.”

When this happens, we choose the part over the whole, belonging to this or that group before belonging to the Church. We become avid supporters for one side, rather than brothers and sisters in the one Spirit. We become Christians of the “right” or the “left,” before being on the side of Jesus, unbending guardians of the past or the avant-garde of the future before being humble and grateful children of the Church. The result is diversity without unity.

The opposite temptation is that of seeking unity without diversity. Here, unity becomes uniformity, where everyone has to do everything together and in the same way, always thinking alike. Unity ends up being homogeneity and no longer freedom. But, as Saint Paul says, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17).

The Call to Communion

So the prayer we make to the Holy Spirit is for the grace to receive his unity, a glance that, leaving personal preferences aside, embraces and loves his Church, our Church. It is to accept responsibility for unity among all, to wipe out the gossip that sows the darnel of discord and the poison of envy, since to be men and women of the Church means being men and women of communion. It is also to ask for a heart that feels that the Church is our Mother and our home, an open and welcoming home where the manifold joy of the Holy Spirit is shared.

The Gift of Forgiveness

Now we come to the second new thing brought by the Spirit: a new heart. When the risen Jesus first appears to his disciples, he says to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them” (Jn 20:22-23). Jesus does not condemn them for having denied and abandoned him during his passion, but instead grants them the spirit of forgiveness.

The Spirit is the first gift of the risen Lord, and is given above all for the forgiveness of sins. Here we see the beginning of the Church, the glue that holds us together, the cement that binds the bricks of the house: forgiveness. Because forgiveness is gift to the highest degree; it is the greatest love of all. It preserves unity despite everything, prevents collapse, and consolidates and strengthens. Forgiveness sets our hearts free and enables us to start afresh. Forgiveness gives hope; without forgiveness, the Church is not built up.

Living the Two-Way Street of Mercy

The spirit of forgiveness resolves everything in harmony, and leads us to reject every other way: the way of hasty judgement, the cul-de-sac of closing every door, the one-way street criticizing others. Instead, the Spirit bids us take the two-way street of forgiveness received and forgiveness given, of divine mercy that becomes love of neighbor, of charity as “the sole criterion by which everything must be done or not done, changed or not changed” (Isaac of Stella, Or. 31). Let us ask for the grace to make more beautiful the countenance of our Mother the Church, letting ourselves be renewed by forgiveness and self-correction. Only then will we be able to correct others in charity.

Conclusion: A Prayer to the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the fire of love burning in the Church and in our hearts, even though we often cover him with the ash of our sins. Let us ask him: “Spirit of God, Lord, who dwell in my heart and in the heart of the Church, guiding and shaping her in diversity, come! Like water, we need you to live. Come down upon us anew, teach us unity, renew our hearts and teach us to love as you love us, to forgive as you forgive us. Amen.”

St. Luke places the account of the event of Pentecost in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The chapter is introduced by the words: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1). These words refer to the previous setting in which Luke described the small company of disciples that had gathered perseveringly in Jerusalem after Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven (cf. Acts 1:12-14). It is a description rich in detail: the place “where they were staying”—the Cenacle—was an “Upper Room”; the 11 Apostles are listed by name and the first three are Peter, John, and James, the “pillars” of the community; mentioned with them are “the women” and “Mary the Mother of Jesus, and “his brethren,” already an integral part of this new family, no longer based on blood ties but on faith in Christ.

The Nascent Church: A Community of Prayer

The total number of people which was “about a hundred and twenty,” a multiple of the “Twelve” of the Apostolic College, alludes to this “new Israel.” The group constitutes an authentic qahal, an “assembly” in accordance with the model of the First Covenant, the community summoned to listen to the Lord’s voice and to walk in his ways.

The Acts of the Apostles stresses that “[a]ll these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer” (1:14). Prayer, therefore, is the principle activity of the nascent Church through which she receives her unity from the Lord and lets herself be guided by his will, as shown by the decision to cast lots in order to elect the one who would take Judas’ place (cf. Acts 1:26).

Pentecost: The New Creation and Overcoming Babel

This community was gathered in the same place, the Upper Room, on the morning of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, the feast of the Covenant which commemorated the Sinai event. According to the Book of Exodus, that ancient pact was accompanied by a terrifying manifestation of power by the Lord.

We find the elements of wind and fire in the Pentecost of the New Testament, but untainted by fear. The fire specifically took the form of tongues of flame which settled on each one of the disciples who “were all filled with the Holy Spirit” and through the effect of this outpouring “began to speak in other tongues” (Acts 2:4). It was a true and proper “baptism” of fire of the community, a sort of new creation. At Pentecost, the Church was not established by human will but by the power of God’s Spirit. It is immediately clear how this Spirit gives life to a community which is at the same time one and universal, thereby overcoming the curse of Babel (cf. Gn 11:7-9).

The Ontological Priority of the Universal Church

Societas Spiritus, a society of the Spirit, is what St. Augustine calls the Church. Beginning with the event of Pentecost, this union between Christ’s Spirit and his Mystical Body was fully manifest. In the event of Pentecost, it becomes clear that many languages and different cultures are part of the Church; in faith they can be understood and make one another fruitful.

St. Luke aims unambiguously to convey a fundamental idea: that the very act of the Church’s birth is already “catholic” or universal. From the outset, the Church speaks in all languages, because the Gospel entrusted to her is destined for all peoples. The Church which is born at Pentecost is not primarily a particular Community—the Church of Jerusalem—but the universal Church. The Catholic Church is therefore not a federation of Churches but a single reality: the universal Church has ontological priority.

From Jerusalem to Rome:
The Journey of Catholicity

Among the peoples represented in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, Luke also mentions “visitors from Rome” (Acts 2:10). At that time, Rome was still a symbol of the pagan world in general. But the power of the Holy Spirit was to guide the footsteps of the witnesses “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), even to Rome.

The Acts of the Apostles ends precisely when St. Paul reaches the capital of the Empire and proclaims the Gospel there. Thus the journey of the Word of God which began in Jerusalem reached its destination, because Rome represents the entire world and therefore embodies Luke’s idea of catholicity. The universal Church is brought into being, the Catholic Church, which is the extension of the Chosen People and makes its history and mission her own.

Shalom: The Gift of Peace and Reconciliation

John’s Gospel offers a word that harmonizes with the mystery of the Church: Shalom—”peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19, 21). This is not a mere greeting; it is the gift of peace won by Jesus at the price of his blood. The Church has a responsibility to be a sign and instrument of God’s peace for all peoples.

Among these signs, the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be emphasized. The Risen Christ instituted it at the very moment he gave the disciples his peace and his Spirit: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:22-23). Christ’s peace is only spread through the renewed hearts of reconciled men and women who have made themselves servants of justice.

Conclusion: Renewing the Face of the Earth

In the light of this word of life, may the prayer we are raising to God in spiritual union with the Virgin Mary become ever more fervent and intense. May the Virgin of listening, the Mother of the Church, obtain for our communities and for all Christians a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

“Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur, et renovabis faciem terrae—Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be recreated, and you shall renew the face of the earth.” Amen.

“Peace be with you.” On this great feast of Pentecost, I greet all of you who have come from so many parishes in the Province of Birmingham and beyond. I also greet our beloved brothers and sisters from other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, whose presence bears witness to our one Baptism in Jesus Christ and to our openness to the one Holy Spirit. We are close to the city of Coventry, a city devastated by war but rebuilt in hope. The ruins of the old Cathedral and the building of the new are recognized throughout the world as a symbol of Christian reconciliation and peace. We pray at this Mass: “Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.” In this prayer, we call upon God to enable us to bring about that reconciliation and peace not simply in symbol, but in reality too.

Coventry Cathedral, UK – Old (left) and new (right)

The Cathedral of Peace: A Patient Construction

Our world is disfigured by war and violence. The ruins of the old Cathedral constantly remind our society of its capacity to destroy—a capacity greater than ever in the shadow of a nuclear nightmare. Peace is not just the absence of war; it involves mutual respect, confidence, and binding agreements. Like a cathedral, peace has to be constructed, patiently and with unshakeable faith.

Wherever the strong exploit the weak or great powers seek to dominate, the work of making peace is undone. Today, the scale and horror of modern warfare makes it totally unacceptable as a means of settling differences. We must turn from domination to service. The “cathedral of peace” is built of many small stones; each person must become a stone in that edifice by listening to the call of Christ to “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

Witnesses of Faith: Saint Boniface and Cardinal Newman

I would now like to speak especially to the young people who are about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon you in a particular way to confirm your faith, seal you in his love, and strengthen you for his service. You will then take your place as full citizens of the People of God. You are called to be instruments of peace, witnesses to the truth of the Gospel, and living stones in the cathedral of peace. Jesus says to you today: “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

You are not alone; we are one body. Let the memory of two great Englishmen inspire you. Saint Boniface, one of the Church’s greatest missionaries, used the strength of his Confirmation to establish the Church in Europe with courage and perseverance.

I also remember Cardinal John Henry Newman, a “pilgrim for truth.” His quest for the fullness of truth and his abiding confidence in the Spirit of Truth inspire us to humility and obedience to God. His teaching remains vital today in our search for Christian unity. Imitate their examples of persevering faith to draw nearer to God.

The Struggle Against Evil and the Built World of Tomorrow

The same Holy Spirit that gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins comes to you in Confirmation to involve you more completely in the Church’s fight against sin and the fostering of holiness. The world of today needs men and women filled with the Spirit, courage, and hopefulness.

The world of tomorrow will be built by you. Today you receive the gift of the Spirit so that you may work with deep faith and abiding charity. Commit yourselves wholeheartedly to the struggle against sin; strive to be unselfish and not obsessed with material things. Be reconciled with each other and devoted to the work of justice.

Conclusion: The People of Pentecost

“How many are your works, O Lord!” (Ps. 104:24). When the sacrament of Confirmation is conferred, the words of the psalm are fulfilled: “You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.”

On this day, we open ourselves again to the power that came upon the Apostles and Mary. In that Spirit, we are baptized, confirmed, and called to share in the mission of Christ. In that Spirit, we shall indeed become the People of Pentecost, the apostles of our time. “Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Amen.