Pentecost Sunday, 2005

 

At the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary imperceptibly. The word of her fiat gave the Spirit the consent to make the Word become flesh.

At Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit comes with high visibility and sound. While the fiat of Mary had been the only consent from humanity needed by God to enter the world, now it was by the command of the Father, and by virtue of the Son’s paschal mystery, that the Spirit could invade humanity. It was not a random invasion, however, but, again through Mary, a coming to the Mystical Body of the Church in the persons and in the college of the Apostles.

As Jesus was truly incarnate at the Annunciation, so the Church was truly constituted in its divine and human structure on the day of Pentecost. As nothing essential to the incarnate Son was absent at the moment of his incarnation, so nothing essential was absent to the Church on the day of Pentecost. On Pentecost, the Church was already one, holy, catholic and apostolic. On Pentecost she already contained within her the fullness of truth and of the means of sanctification as well as her hierarchical nature. The Church in her truest essence derives from the incarnation and the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ who, by the outpouring of the Spirit, makes her one with himself in a oneness which is already real but not yet visible.

The Spirit of Pentecost is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Truth promised by him to remind us of everything he said, to be his witness as he himself had been the witness of the Father. The Spirit is like the life-force who takes possession of the seed of Christ, that is, the apostolic community, and brings it to flourish, like the mustard seed, to be the greatest of all the bushes in the garden.

But there is nothing in the final blossom which is not already in the seed; because it is not seen does not mean it is not there. We can point to many doctrines of faith and morality which have come forth over the centuries; we can point to the physical extension and institutional complexity of the Church, which grew with time; but none of this either adds to or detracts from the essential core of the Church’s identity. Indeed, whatever has not belonged to that identity has often fallen away or withered. Even today, there may be things in the life of the institutional Church which do not belong to her; those things, in following the prophecy of Gamaliel, since they are not of God, will fade of their own accord. Only that which is rooted in the incarnate Christ and therefore receives the sap of his divine Spirit will remain standing on the Day of Christ.

We need not fear, then, when changes come: they are inevitable, because man himself is passing and mortal. Man himself, however sacredly endowed he may be, is also and always capable of introducing human features into the Church which have nothing to do with Christ. Sometimes sin, in its diabolical skill, can present itself as something holy. But what man would dare say, of his own authority, that “this must go” or “that must end”? Just as a living body purges itself from impurities by virtue of the laws within it, so the Church, by virtue of the law and Spirit of Christ, will, in good time, be purified of what is alien to her.

This will happen without fail, because the Spirit keeps the Church indefectible in the life and truth of Jesus Christ. Even although those entrusted with the primary task of that purification themselves be impure, yet they cannot fail to purge with right judgment, because their judgment in these cases is not their own, but the judgment of the Spirit of Christ. It is by the Spirit that the gates of hell will not prevail; it is the Spirit who guides and inspires Peter and the successors of the Apostles to open and to close with the keys of the kingdom.

The apostolic teachers of the Catholic faith and morals do not speak of themselves. They speak with the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit. Fire unites everything it sets on fire; the fire of the Spirit in the Church purifies everything it burns and transforms, not into ashes, but into the purest bread of the body of the Lord. Jesus breathed fire on his apostles that they might breathe fire on all who would believe. It is the fire of his own Sacred Heart, the fire of the passion by which he longed to give himself on the Cross for our salvation. It is therefore the fire of mercy.

Mercy burns before it soothes because it must destroy the sin which destroys us. Merciful words are like double-edged swords, for in bringing the heat of relief, they at the same time bring the pain of purification. “Speak words of mercy to us”, people say today. But do they know what they are asking? Words of mercy come at a cost: the cost of the blood of Christ and the cost of one’s own admission and renunciation of sin.

The apostles speak words of unity, but they are not easy words. For unity, too, comes at a price. Christ died that the scattered children of God might be united. To speak words of unity, therefore, is to speak words of death, death to the things which divide, to the pride, anger, vengeance, hatred, bitterness and distrust which cause division. To be united is to die in Christ. Oneness with one another is nothing more than a social pleasantry if it does not put an end to the lives of selfishness we live. The word of unity which the apostles speak is: Christ died for your sins and rose for your justification, so turn and believe in him and find life in him! Life in him results from death in him.

We must put to death in him the sin which divides each of us in himself and all of us from each other. Then we can be raised to fullness of integrity and life within ourselves and among ourselves. Words of unity will mean nothing to the one embedded in their prejudices of division. Indeed, they will only sneer at such words and will trample them like pigs trample upon pearls.

There is only one way to unity, for there is only one unity, and that way requires us to let go of the piece of unity we think we have, so that we can receive it all. And who is to decide what that unity is? “Father, let them be one in me as I am in you”: only Christ, the only-begotten Son, the only name given under heaven for men to be saved. That ministry of unity or reconciliation he has entrusted to his apostles and their successors. If we will not listen to them when they teach us the truth of salvation, then we will not listen to Christ. For to the one who will not listen, it does not matter whom you send to talk to them: not listening has become part of their being, of who they are. To listen for them would mean to die. Of course, it is tragically the opposite which will be true: it will be their unwillingness to listen that will lead them to eternal death.

How can we listen selectively to Christ and not thus reject the unity of his message? To say that there is only one truth is a tautology. For the truth is Christ: he is one, and no part of his truth can claim autonomy. Heresy in the Church is born from wanting to take part of the truth and leave the rest. Christ cannot be parceled out. A heart which is divided in listening to the truth will not hear the truth but only a caricature of it. And caricatures do not save.

Different is the idea that unity shows itself in diversity. There are many gifts, but one Spirit. Yes, but all gifts are given to work together in harmony for the building up of the one body. If I take my gift and use it in opposition to another gift, I have destroyed my own gift. Unity in diversity means that the whole is greater than each part and than the sum of them. Again, Christ has entrusted to his apostles the task of ensuring that the diversity of gifts is, first of all, recognized and celebrated with joy, but also that they are coordinated in proportion and synchrony in order that no gift is left behind or any gift oversteps its limits.

And if there is war between different gifts, then is the time for the tongues of fire to speak, first words of judgment and then words of reconciliation and forgiveness when the truth has been accepted.

There is no doubt that, with a newly-elected Pope, a new Pentecost is upon us. This is a time of great consolation, of great courage and confidence in our Catholic identity as the Church of Christ. There are signs of the Spirit’s work all over the world, and not just within the Church. We, too, are called to pray with fervor and fullness of heart: “Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, Creator Spiritus!” Renew the fire of your truth, your mercy and your unity within us, that we may renew the face of the earth. By the wind and fire of the Paraclete, may we multiply the gifts and talents we have received for the salvation of mankind and, thus, for the greater glory of God.

 

Msgr. Peter Magee

Sunday, May 15^th, 2005

Christopolis Retreat

Shalom House, Montpelier, VA