THE PENTECOST TODAY, UNITY IN THE DIVERSITY.
May 31 2020: Pentecost Sunday.
Solemnity
Mass during the Day
A Klingon proverb says, “For one mission, there is one
leader.” And another Latin proverb adds, “Diverse grapes, through time, grow
together.”
The Holy Spirit is the great commissioner. He is the one who
sends in mission and gives the seal of authenticity to any mission. Jesus, our
Lord received his mission from the Holy Spirit the day of his Baptism and that
marked the beginning of his public life and ministry as we read in Mt 3:16-17
and Lk 3:21-22. It is said that, “after Jesus was baptized… the heavens were
opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and]
coming upon him.” From that very moment, Jesus was sent into his mission that
led him till the Cross where he died and rose from the dead.
The day of the Ascension officially marked the end of the
Lord’s mission. But before departing from his disciples, the Lord Jesus
promised them the Paraclete. The coming of the Holy Spirit marks the starting
point of the mission of the Apostles, the mission of the Church. Rightly, it is
said that the Church was born at the Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit stands as
the connection and the mediator from the mission of Jesus to the mission of his
followers.
Today, fifty days after Easter, ten days after the Ascension
of the Lord, the promised Paraclete, the Great Advocate, the Spirit of Truth is
given to the Apostles and the Disciples gathered in the Cenacle. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church, speaking of the Mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit,
states, “The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in
the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This
joint mission henceforth brings Christ’s faithful to share in his communion
with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and goes out to
them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the
Risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the
understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of
Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them
into communion with God, that they may ‘bear much fruit’.” (CCC. 737)
So, today, under the motion of the Holy Spirit, the
disciples of Christ, that is, you and me, are sent in mission throughout the
world.
The first reading narrates the event that took place the day
of the first Pentecost, how the Spirit came upon the group of the disciples,
and what happened upon receiving Him. One beautiful lesson from that event is
that the Spirit which came down from the Heavens is the source of unity. At his
coming, all the barriers and reasons of divisions were pull down. He gave
strength and courage to the disciples, removed all fears from them, and made
them speak in a way that everyone could hear their voice, to the point that the
people who heard them wondered: “Are not all these people who are speaking
Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of
Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to
Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the
mighty acts of God.” For the Holy Spirit of God is a seal of communion and
unity. It widens our horizons and destroys our causes of division, making of us
all, one people, the people of God, the Body of Christ.
The Gospel presents in another way the coming of the Spirit
upon the disciples. Here, it is given to them by the Risen Lord himself by
breathing upon them. And another beautiful element that follows the receiving
of the Holy Spirit is that the disciples are sent into a mission of
reconciliation and forgiveness. The Lord said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained.” The Holy Spirit here is the one who gives authority to the disciples
to forgive others’ sins. Rightly, in the formula of absolution that the Priests
pronounce on the penitents, they say, “Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
may God give you pardon and peace…”
So, the Christian community is born of the Holy Spirit and
strengthened by Him. In the second reading, St. Paul, addressing the
Corinthians, describes to the community the effects and the consequences of the
Holy Spirit on them. Each one of us, through our Baptism, have received the
Spirit of Christ. Therefore, we have all become one body in Christ. Being one
in Christ, says Paul, implies that there should be no division or competition among
us. The manifestation of the Spirit differs from one to another. That
diversity, nevertheless, is meant to lead us to unity, that is unity in the
diversity, just like the parts of the body, though many and different, are
united.
These sayings of Paul will take all their meaning as a
warning if we look at the reality of our today’s Christian communities and
Churches. We are a community, a common unity of believers where each one has
his talents and gifts of the Spirit. We cannot all be preachers. Nor can we all
pretend to be prophets, seers, healers, exorcists, psalmists or chanters,
evangelists, and so on. We are different, and thanks be to God, for that makes
the need for the complementarity. Let us not try to be all the same, or to do
all the same. For if all were priests or religious, who then will be the
fathers and mothers of the families? If all were exorcists or healers, who then
will be the parishioners to beneficiate of our service? If all want to be
prophets, to whom will we prophesize? Or if all are great chanters and
psalmists in our Sundays’ assembly, who then will listen to others?
Many communities fall in the cacophony, the
great Babel when people refuse that need for unity in the diversity. The coming
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a correction the Lord brings to what
happened at Babel (Gn 11:1–9). Let us not reiterate the Babel in our Churches,
but rather search for great unity in our diversities. For the diversity is what
makes the beauty of our Christian communities and the Church. The Spirit we
receive at Pentecost sends us in mission, each one according to his gifts and
talents to breaks the walls of divisions and build bridges of communion.
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