At
Pentecost we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, and we celebrate the
coming of the Church. They happen
together.
In
our Catholic tradition there are many voices that would urge us to really
celebrate this feast. St. Augustine
tells us: “Keep this day with joy, celebrate it …for in you is being fulfilled
what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came.” Augustine is saying what happened at Pentecost
is being repeated in us. We are a repeat
performance of Pentecost!
A
later voice out of our tradition is the theologian, Karl Rahner. He tells us that Jesus’ resurrection – Jesus’
new life – achieves its greatest clarity and completion in what we celebrate today:
the coming of the Church. As Church we
are Easter made clear! We are Easter
made complete!
These
are grandiose things to be told about ourselves. But let’s go back to what Scripture has to
teach us about ourselves. If you’ll
remember back to Easter, on that first Easter morning two men dressed in white
appeared to the disciples at the tomb asking them: “Why do you seek the Living One among the
dead? He’s not here, but has been
raised.” Jesus, the Risen One, is among
the living – not the dead. The Risen One
is in the present – not the past.
And
again, at the Ascension, the same two men appear to the disciples asking them: “Why are you standing there looking up at the
sky? This Jesus … will return.” Jesus, the Ascended One, is not up above in
some heavenly space. Don’t look up; he’s
not there.
One
thing the Scripture is telling us about ourselves is that we tend to look for
Jesus where he is not to be found. And
Pentecost is there to tell us where to look for Jesus – among the living, not
the dead – in the present, not the past – not above us but in our midst. Pentecost points to the arrival of the Holy Spirit
among Jesus’ disciples. It marks Jesus’
Spirit beginning to inhabit the minds, hearts and bodies of the disciples. Jesus returns through his disciples. He did not leave us orphans. We are his return.
I
think the scene in John’s gospel conveys the coming of the Spirit most
poignantly. Jesus comes to his disciples
saying: “Peace be with you!” Jesus
brings peace to the disciples who had denied and deserted him. Jesus, their victim, returns as their
blessing. And then, John tells us,
“Jesus breathed on them and said to the disciples: ‘Receive the Holy
Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are
forgiven them…’” The Holy Spirit arrives
in the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ real
return – his real presence among us – happens when we accept his peace and bring
his forgiveness to others. Saints are
sinners who know themselves to be forgiven and called to live with others out
of that forgiveness.
We
take shape as Church – as the church of the saints – as we allow ourselves to
be inhabited by the Spirit of Jesus. We
take shape as Church – as where Jesus’ own living presence is most clearly seen
– as we learn to bless, like Jesus, those who have denied and deserted us in
any way – as we learn not to speak words of accusation but rather words that
bring down barriers and cross over borders we have created.
We
take shape as Church – when we simply refuse to mimic the ways of the hopeless
among us – when we do not confuse anger for strength of character nor the
accumulation of wealth for life’s purpose.
We do not stand ready to applaud the mindless pursuit of power nor do we
play chaplain to any system or empire – to any political ideal or party intent
on violence and domination.
Forgiveness
is the fully human and Spirit-filled shape of the Church. That is the Church we are called to be. That is the Church the world needs to
see. And that is the Church we need to
celebrate this Pentecost.
May
the Spirit of Christ be with us all!
Fr. Pat Earl, SJ
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