Pentecost 2022
Ac 2:1-11
Rom 8:8-17
Jn 14:15-16.23-26
What shall I say in honour of the Holy Spirit? He alone can speak aptly about Himself. Is He not the Spirit of Truth? May He praise Himself through my words. Or better: may He Himself preach to your hearts today, dear Brethren in the Lord. Let us listen to Him. Let us open the ear of our heart and be attentive to the voice of the Spirit speaking to our conscience.
We should know this voice, but maybe we have never tuned into it. It is not too late. We can begin today to listen to it. It begins like the pianissimo of an orchestra when you are amazed that so many instruments playing at the same can make so little noise. It is an old teacher’s trick: you lower your voice so that everyone has to be quiet and attentive, then you can speak, sure that you will be heard. If you have some experience of the voice of the Spirit, you know that, most of the time, He is very quiet; but at the same time He does not cease speaking. He is very insistent indeed. We find this in the Bible when people are addressed by their name twice: “Moses, Moses” or “Samuel, Samuel”. This is an expression of the Spirit’s peaceful but strong insistence. We can compare it to the loving suggestion of a very good friend: “You should to this”; “Why don’t you try that?”; “You are loved”; “You can love”; “Do not be afraid to love”; “Love a bit more”. These are only a few notes of the Spirit’s impressive gamut. You know this melody in your heart, the melody of charity. We are good at covering it up with worries or distractions, vain desires or ambitions, and with passions of all sorts. But in the end, the little voice, the Music of the Spirit, is always there, gently showing a direction, reminding us of a possibility, inviting us to go further on.
Now that we have begun to listen to it in our hearts, we realise that is not quite enough. On the day of Pentecost “a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting”. The Spirit who speaks within speaks also without. Indeed in the Church, which is the “house filled with the Spirit”, the Spirit speaks from heart to heart. We can learn to listen to Him in one another’s hearts. I suppose this must be one of the meanings of the synodality to which the Holy Father Pope Francis is inviting us. The Synodal way is not so much about discussing ideas and sharing views as listening to the multiple voices of the Spirit. I say multiple because, at first, your impression is one of confusion and multiplicity. But if you persevere in listening, you begin to perceive a melody taking shape. This is the ample polyphony of the Church: many views, and opinions, and sensitivities, and trends; diverse charisms and graces; but one origin and one aim; one direction. The Spirit is the One who gives the direction. He is the divine Conductor of the symphony which is the Church, the people of God on its synodal way to the Father, following Christ.
The little voice of the Spirit has now grown and we are made aware of an ample sound: the voice of the Church in its tradition over the centuries and its reaching out to all the peoples of the earth. The Spirit goes always further. Moreover, with our trained ears, we are now beginning to listen to His voice in the creation and the whole world. In the Introit, the first chant of this Mass, we sung the text from the book of Wisdom “The Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together knows what is said” (Ws 1:7). The endless diversity of the created universe which seems to be infinite in littleness and infinite in greatness speaks with one voice. It is not the voice of some anonymous and collective Nature, but the voice of the Spirit of God who holds together all creatures in the divine harmony of the design of the Creator. For the Father is the designer of the world and its history; the Son is the design; and the Spirit gives to all things participation in the one design of the One God who is Trinity in love. The House of the Church and the house of the heart are now filled with the music of the world, the sound of God, the voice of the Word in God.
Such is the mystery of Pentecost. The same Spirit who gave life in the origins is given again to believers. It is a river of life, the voice of the great waters of the divine symphony God is playing with and in the world He has created and is saving. We are living in a world in which God is at work by His Spirit, and where He dwells by the gift of His Spirit. Our personal life, the lives of our families and communities, the lives of our peoples and of the whole human family, the lives of all creatures in the world, the lives of the whole invisible creation of the angels in heaven, the souls of the faithful departed and the saints – all these lives are resounding in harmony with the voice of the Spirit. The world we are in is permeated by the presence and the action of the Spirit. For us it is simply a question of attuning ourselves to His voice and to follow His direction.
Among us is Mary, as she was with the Apostles in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. She is perfect listening to the Spirit: perfect faith, humble obedience, joyful gift of self, total openness and availability to the leadership of the Spirit. And she is prayer: constant intercession, perfectly attuned to the groanings of the Spirit in the world, in the Church, in each single soul of her sisters and brothers. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let he one who is thirsty come, let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Ap 22:17.20)