By F. Luis Casasus, General Superior of idente missionaries
Commentary on the Sunday Gospel of 20-05-18 Pentecost Sunday, Peru. (Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25; John 15:26-27.16:12-15)
Jesus was an excellent teacher and educator. He always managed to start from the well-known to take his audience to something new and meaningful to all of them. This is why he chose for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks, the initial harvest feast, where the Jews were to offer to God the first fruits of the new grain. This explains that the point of Pentecost is mission and the goal of mission is that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). The prophet is talking about the reaping of the souls.
The Church was not born for herself, our spiritual path does not limit itself to an imaginary state of harmony with God and contemplation called holiness. Nor is it an entity for the purpose organizing a variety of activities. The Church is by her very nature a missionary Church, Benedict XVI said in many opportunities. Missions is not something that the church does, it is something that the Church is, and if a church stops being missionary than it is betraying its very identity. Moreover, without the Holy Spirit the Church is simply an organization and mission is a matter of propaganda.
And here comes the role of the Holy Spirit. The poet William Blake wrote a famous poem about the fire of the Holy Spirit we continue to receive since Pentecost:
Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named.
Unless the Heart catch fire, God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known.
This is the relevance of Pentecost in our everyday life: The gift of the Holy Spirit takes away from our hearts the fear of death, misunderstanding and shame. We are not afraid any more to risk our lives, but with zeal and audacity we are enabled announce to our neighbors the coming of a new kingdom, calling them to faith in Jesus Christ. The gift of the Holy Spirit has made us sharers in the victory over death. We can announce what we are living. We are witnesses.
These three fears form a particularly appropriate point for our reflection today:
►How our fear to death is like? It is not only the ordinary fear of dying, which is a very natural part of life for most people, usually linked to the fear of the progressive weakness caused by the diseases and aging. It is not only the fear to being killed as a martyr. What is at issue is the death of my ego. We are afraid of abnegation and self-denial. No matter how accomplished, successful, or courageous we are, we delude ourselves with astonishing ease. Listen to this honest confession of ex-President Jimmy Carter:
As a deacon of the Baptist Church, Carter would always visit a few homes, read the Scriptures and have prayer, share some religious beliefs, then he would talk about the weather and crops and depart. In his autobiography Carter wrote: I was always proud enough of this effort to retain a clear conscience throughout the remainder of the year. One day, Carter was asked to speak at a church in Georgia. The topic he was assigned was “Christian Witnessing.” He decided he would make a great impression upon the audience by sharing with them how many home visits he made for God. He figured in the fourteen years since returning from the Navy he had conducted 140 visits. Carter proudly wrote the number in his script. As Carter sat there, he began to reflect on the 1966 governor’s election. As he campaigned for the state’s highest office, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day trying to reach as many voters as possible. At the conclusion of the campaign Carter calculated that he met more than 300,000 Georgians.
Sitting in his study the truth became evident. Carter wrote in his autobiography: The comparison struck me; 300,000 visits for myself in three months, and 140 visits for God in fourteen years!
►Fear of being misunderstood? No, please no. Even from a psychological viewpoint, fears of being misunderstood leaves you dependent upon your audience. Ideas are diluted to what you imagine your audience can imagine, leading to work that is condescending, arrogant, or both. And you end by losing sight of your true apostolic mission.
Jesus was misunderstood, and Christians will no doubt experience the same treatment.
When Christians are mocked by skeptics who believe there is no resurrection of the dead, we should not be surprised. Jesus was laughed at because he did not believe the grave was the end. His sayings were often received in the wrong way by those who failed to understand what he really meant (we are not talking now about their envy or their fear of losing power).
When Jesus came to Jairo’s house and claimed that the young girl was not dead, but simply sleeping, the people laughed at him.
Our victory is NOT in the immediate outcome, like a sudden conversion after a useful and transparent explanation of the spiritual truths. Our victory is in our intention, in our attitude. Our victory is not measured by how big a crowd we can draw to a spiritual retreat, although we have to do an effort to reach more and more people. Our victory is measured by how wholly our lives are surrendered to God by our abnegation and how deeply our lives are shaped by His presence. Ultimately, it is not OUR victory, rather the power of a new covenant between divine omnipotence and the poor but receptive human heart.
Julian the Apostate was the Roman emperor a few decades after Constantine legalized the Church, but he was afraid of how influential the Church had become and so he sought to destroy it. Hence the name “apostate”. He decided to bring back the pagan religion of Rome. Although he failed in his attempt, He put all his imperial weight behind supporting the rise of the pagan priesthood, temples, feasts, and customs. He also made one other thing a part of his pagan revival: charities. Julian recognized that the true strength of Christianity was its concern for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the foreigner. Julian’s project was a failure because true charity is more than an emotion, more transcendent than an effort to perform good deeds. It is literally a fruit of the Spirit, a heavenly endowment which can only be granted and bestowed by an all-loving God.
Most of the first apostles had not many public speaking skills. The gift of speaking tongues was a special miracle to demonstrate God’s purpose in taking the Gospel to all the nations.
Incidentally, this is why idente missionaries must struggle to learn the languages in the places they go. These are the words of Eugene de Mazenod, the Founder of the Oblates, to one of his missionaries:
I admit that it must not be easy to learn the African language, but you know that missionaries always share a little in the miracle of Pentecost. Invoke the Holy Spirit, then, that he may bring to completion the gifts you did not fully receive on the day of your Confirmation. You received then the germ of knowledge which must now develop in you for the service of God and the salvation of souls.
►Shame Definitely, this is not a minor obstacle. It reflects an excess of attention on ourselves; it is undeniably a form of self-attachment and leads us to some form of betrayal. This is unavoidable, because shame is a manifestation of our divided soul and we will not be able to endure for very long, the pain and frustration that this situation causes us; sooner or later we will fall.
Socrates said that shame reveals what a person really believes, as opposed to what he says or even thinks he believes. This internal division is highlighted in the Second Reading: The flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.
For some short time, Peter would be ashamed of Jesus. Peter would soon have the opportunity to affirm his relationship with Jesus near a fire on the morning of Jesus’ crucifixion. Peter swore on oath that he did not know the man and shortly thereafter saw Jesus as Christ went to the cross to die for that sin. We are aware of our own infidelity. In fact, the closer we are to God, who is light, the more aware we are of our own shadows. Peter repented and allowed this mistake to make him more honest about his own frailty. He found forgiveness and made appropriate corrections.
If you won’t say anything about Jesus and what He means to you to your friends or co-workers or anyone else, you are ashamed of Jesus Christ. Too often we are not ashamed of Jesus when we are with other Christians, but how we may behave or speak around non-believers can be a whole different situation. We might want to fit in or we just do not want to be ridiculed or embarrassed.
If we do not overcome today our shame, we will be ashamed in the final judgment. Probably, as our Father Founder said once, when we get to Heaven, a bunch of old acquaintances and familiar faces will approach us and say: We spent a great deal of time together, as classmates, co-workers, neighbors or relatives, and you hardly shared with us a word about this Kingdom you were already enjoying. Did you not consider us worthy of sharing in your joy? Hopefully, we will be in His glory, but the Son of Man will be ashamed of us.
Only the Holy Spirit can give us the inner conviction of the truths revealed to us, then we know what we proclaim is real and not just words. Particularly, we experience the mercy of God through the forgiveness of our sins; and this is not difficult: our faith has not been annihilated, therefore, we have been forgiven. Moreover, with this forgiveness we receive, as a first aid treatment, the gift of peace.
How do we know that we are sent? Of course, through the Church, through our superiors. But, if we are truly obedient, we receive an intimate confirmation: beyond vices and virtues, we can see more and more clearly the deepest suffering (the inner division) and the most profound aspiration (the hidden and sleeping generosity) of our neighbor. Then we are pushed into apostolic life in a step without return.
But true discipleship is not just an individual affair but it must lead to the formation of a community of missionary disciples. Then, we have to resolve a second question:
How can we achieve a full unity between us? We do not need to re-invent the wheel: For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1Cor 12:13).
The only way we can have unity is in the Holy Spirit. We cannot have unity because we all agree with each other in everything; that is impossible. We have the unity only in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now it comes our welcoming of this gift. And where does it start? Humility. It’s not all about me. I don’t have to have my way. I don’t necessarily know what’s best. That is humility.
And then patience, again, a fruit of the Spirit, which means bearing with one another through love. That is a choice and a virtue…when it becomes habitual. We have to bear with one another. That does not mean we “like each other”. It is about bearing with one another, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
This is why in the Introductory Rites of the Mass we seek to come together as one, humbly and publicly confessing that we have sinned and asking to our brothers and sisters to be patient, praying for me to the Lord our God.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love (Eph 4:2).
Jesus prayed for us before His Passion: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Yes; unity is a process and takes practice, just like any other virtue; like humility and patience. Not only that. Sharing in this unity is the ultimate goal of our mission. Therefore, we read in Redemptoris Missio: The ultimate purpose of mission is to enable people to share in the communion which exists between the Father and the Son. And St. Augustine explained this very well:
The communion of the Church’s unity…is as it were a work of the Holy Spirit himself, with the participation of the Father and the Son, because in a way the Spirit himself is the communion of the Father and the Son…. The Father and the Son have the Spirit in common, because he is the Spirit of both of them.
Let me close with two significant small gems of our last Popes:
When adults have so much difficulty bringing young people to faith, it probably is a sign that God is calling youths to evangelize their peers (Benedict XVI).
Pope Francis referred to being Missionary Disciples as a challenge to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities (The Joy of the Gospel).
