Pentecost, like Easter, is built on one of the great festivals of the Jewish calendar, when Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman and Greek world would come to Jerusalem. The Jewish feast of Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. Pentecost commemorates the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai fifty days later.
“Pentecost” is the Greek name of the feast, and means “fiftieth day.” The Jewish name is “Feast of Weeks” (Hebrew: Shavuot), because it takes place a “week of weeks” after Passover. In terms of nature, Passover corresponds to the beginning of Spring, while Pentecost corresponds to the first harvest.
Christians now celebrate the new Passover when “Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world” by his sacrifice, and brings us out of the tyranny of death by his Resurrection. And Christians now celebrate the new Pentecost as the day of the Church’s first harvest, when through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 3000 people were baptized (Acts 2:41)!
Pentecost is the official birthday of the Church, when the apostles emerged from the upper room where they had been praying, and stepped into the plaza to proclaim the Gospel of salvation and begin the harvest of mankind. The special miracle of Pentecost, which gave the Church its “Catholic” identity, was the sign of tongues. The pilgrims who heard the apostles preaching were from all over the world and spoke various different languages, yet each of them heard the apostles speak in his own native tongue!
The miracle of the Church is that it is catholic—it overcomes the barrier of human tongues which divides and scatters mankind into a “Babel” of various antagonistic tribes and nations. The Holy Spirit unites them into a family of God, the “brethren” of Christ. “Whether Jew or Greek, slave or free… all have been baptized into one body, in one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).
Let us reflect on the Holy Spirit who was poured out at the first Pentecost, and is poured out again today. He is the living soul of the Church. St. Paul described the Church as the “Body of Christ”: Jesus is the Head, and we are its members: “as a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Cor 12:12). The Catholic Church is a living spiritual organism, not simply a man-made institution. Just as each of us has a living soul that gives us our personal identity, our inner spiritual life, and gives physical life to every cell of our body, so the Church has a living Spirit that gives it its life and identity. It is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God.
In order for the Holy Spirit to be the soul of the Church, He is poured into each individual cell of the Church. “The Spirit of God dwells in you” says St. Paul (Rm 8:9). He goes on to explain, “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You did not receive a spirit of slavery and fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Rm 8:14-15). The Spirit that makes us alive is the same Spirit that made Christ alive: the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. By baptism and confirmation He is poured into our soul, so that we call God “Abba,” in the same way that Jesus calls the first Person his “Abba.” Through the Holy Spirit, we share in the Son-ship of the Son. We, the Church, share in the life which our Head, Christ, possesses with regard to the Father. The Church, then, is a divine being.
Our human spirits must become one with the divine Holy Spirit in us, so that this divine identity may shine through our humanity: “The [Holy] Spirit himself bears witness with our [human] spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rm 8:16-17). It is because of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church, this divine spiritual identity we have as Catholics, that we have our special Catholic greeting: “The Lord be with you… And with your spirit.” We recognize in each other, together with our human spirits, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit!
Through the Holy Spirit in us, we put to death the deeds of the flesh, and live according to the Spirit. The Spirit of God brings healing, moral as well as physical. “If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rm 8:13).
At the last supper, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Paraclete,” translated as Advocate or Consoler. Jesus said to his disciples: “if you love you me you will keep my commands, and I will ask the Father to give you another Paraclete, to be with you always” (Jn 14:15-16).
“Another Paraclete.” Jesus is the first Paraclete. The Paraclete is the one who intercedes for us, takes up our cause, and stands before the throne of judgment on our side. The Paraclete is the Advocate and Defender; the Friend who does not abandon us and even when we have sinned. Christ was our first Paraclete by taking upon himself the punishment of our sins, thus paying the price of justice and opening for us the gates of heaven and obtaining reconciliation between mankind and God. The Holy Spirit is the second Paraclete, poured out upon the Church for the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus says something very special about the Paraclete: “The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26). The Holy Spirit in the Church is the living memory of Christ. Because of the Holy Spirit, we can come to know Jesus completely today, even though it is 2000 years since he was on earth, and we can know him as immediately as the first disciples. It is because of the Holy Spirit in the Church that we are kept united in the one true faith: He makes the true Memory of Christ shine through all errors and heresies, with clarity and strength.
The Church has a tremendous task ahead. Most of the world rejects Christ and opposes the Gospel. Large numbers of Catholics have “forgotten” who Jesus is. The Church needs a New Evangelization, we need the Holy Spirit to teach us again, and remind us of all that Christ said and did!
As we come to the end of the Easter Season, let us pray for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the world today, upon the Church, and upon each of us. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Lord, send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.