As Eastertide draws to a close, courtesy of Rocco over at Whispers in the Loggia, Pope Benedict XVI's homily from Mass in St Peters this morning for the Solemnity of Pentecost.
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am happy to celebrate this Holy Mass with you – a Mass
animated by the Choir of the Academy of Santa Cecilia and by the Youth
Orchestra, which I thank – on this Feast of Pentecost. This mystery constitutes
the baptism of the Church, it is an event that gave the Church the initial shape
and thrust of its mission, so to speak. This shape and thrust are always valid,
always timely, and they are renewed through the actions of the liturgy,
especially.
This morning I want to reflect on an essential aspect of the
mystery of Pentecost, which maintains all its importance in our own day as well.
Pentecost is the feast of human unity, understanding and sharing. We can all see
how in our world, despite us being closer to one another through developments in
communications, with geographical distances seeming to disappear – understanding
and sharing among people is often superficial and difficult. There are imbalances
that frequently lead to conflicts; dialogue between generations is hard and
differences sometimes prevail; we witness daily events where people appear to be
growing more aggressive and belligerent; understanding one another takes too
much effort and people prefer to remain inside their own sphere, cultivating
their own interests. In this situation, can we really discover and experience
the unity we so need?
The account of Pentecost in the Acts of the
Apostles, which we heard in the first reading, is set against a background that
contains one of the last great frescoes of the Old Testament: the ancient story
of the construction of the Tower of Babel. But what is Babel? It is the
description of a kingdom in which people have concentrated so much power they
think they no longer need depend on a God who is far away. They believe they are
so powerful they can build their own way to heaven in order to open the gates
and put themselves in God's place. But it's precisely at this moment that
something strange and unusual happens. While they are working to build the
tower, they suddenly realise they are working against one another. While trying
to be like God, they run the risk of not even being human – because they've lost
an essential element of being human: the ability to agree, to understand one
another and to work together.
This biblical story contains an eternal
truth: we see this truth throughout history and in our own time as well.
Progress and science have given us the power to dominate the forces of nature,
to manipulate the elements, to reproduce living things, almost to the point of
manufacturing humans themselves. In this situation, praying to God appears
outmoded, pointless, because we can build and create whatever we want. We don't
realise we are reliving the same experience as Babel. It's true, we have
multiplied the possibilities of communicating, of possessing information, of
transmitting news – but can we say our ability to understand each other has
increased? Or, paradoxically, do we understand each other even less? Doesn't it
seem like feelings of mistrust, suspicion and mutual fear have insinuated
themselves into human relationships to the point where one person can even pose
a threat to another? Let's go back to the initial question: can unity and
harmony really exist? How?
The answer lies in Sacred Scripture: unity can
only exist as a gift of God's Spirit, which will give us a new heart and a new
tongue, a new ability to communicate. This is what happened at Pentecost. On
that morning, fifty days after Easter, a powerful wind blew over Jerusalem and
the flame of the Holy Spirit descended on the gathered disciples. It came to
rest upon the head of each of them and ignited in them a divine fire, a fire of
love, capable of transforming things. Their fear disappeared, their hearts were
filled with new strength, their tongues were loosened and they began to speak
freely, in such a way that everyone could understand the news that Jesus Christ
had died and was risen. On Pentecost, where there was division and
incomprehension, unity and understanding were born.
But let's look at
today's Gospel in which Jesus affirms: “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, He
will guide you to the whole truth”. Speaking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus is
explaining to us what the Church is and how she must live in order to be
herself, to be the place of unity and Communion in Truth; he tells us that acting
like Christians means not being closed inside our own spheres, but opening
ourselves towards others; it means welcoming the whole Church within ourselves
or, better still, allowing the Church to welcome us. So, when I speak, think and
act like a Christian, I don't stay closed off within myself – but I do so in
everything and starting from everything: thus the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
unity and truth, can continue to resonate in people's hearts and minds,
encouraging them to meet and welcome one another. Precisely because it acts in
this way, the Spirit introduces us to the whole truth, who is Jesus, and guides
us to examine and understand it. We do not grow in understanding by closing
ourselves off inside ourselves, but only by becoming capable of listening and
sharing, in the “ourselves” of the Church, with an attitude of deep personal
humility. Now it's clearer why Babel is Babel and Pentecost is Pentecost. Where
people want to become God, they succeed only in pitting themselves against each
other. Where they place themselves within the Lord's truth, on the other hand,
they open themselves to the action of his Spirit which supports and unites
them.
The contrast between Babel and Pentecost returns in the second
reading, where the Apostle Paul says: “Walk according to the Spirit and you will
not be brought to satisfy the desires of the flesh”. St Paul tells us that our
personal life is marked by interior conflict and division, between impulses that
come from the flesh and those that come from the Spirit: and we cannot follow
all of them. We cannot be both selfish and generous, we cannot follow the
tendency to dominate others and experience the joy of disinterested service. We
have to choose which impulse to follow and we can do so authentically only with
the help of the Spirit of Christ. St Paul lists the works of the flesh: they are
the sins of selfishness and violence, like hostility, discord, jealousy,
dissent. These are thoughts and actions that do not allow us to live in a truly
human and Christian way, in love. This direction leads to us losing our life.
The Holy Spirit, though, guides us towards the heights of God, so that, on this
earth, we can already experience the seed of divine life that is within
us.
St Paul confirms: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace”. We
note how the Apostle uses the plural to describe the works of the flesh that
provoke the loss of our humanity – while he uses the singular to define the
action of the Spirit, speaking of “the fruit”, in the same way as the dispersion
of Babel contrasts with the unity of Pentecost.
Dear friends, we must
live according to the Spirit of unity and truth, and this is why we must pray
for the Spirit to enlighten and guide us to overcome the temptation to follow
our own truths, and to welcome the truth of Christ transmitted in the Church.
Luke's account of Pentecost tells us that, before rising to heaven, Jesus asked
the Apostles to stay together and to prepare themselves to receive the Holy
Spirit. And they gathered together in prayer with Mary in the Upper Room and
awaited the promised event.
Like when it was born, today the Church still
gathers with Mary and prays: “Veni Sancte
Spiritus! - Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle
in them the fire of your love!”
Amen.
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