Pentecost and Beyond

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 6/3/04)

This past Sunday we relived in the Sacred Liturgy the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost. Each year, I find the reliving of this holy mystery a source of joy and hope for all of us who form the Body of Christ, His Church. Pentecost marks the end of the Easter Season, that prolonged fifty-day celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Throughout this joyous season, we have recalled the growth of the early Church under the direction of the Holy Spirit as each day we reflected on passages from the Acts of the Apostles. We continued to deepen our awareness of the Risen Lord Jesus’ faithful love and strengthening presence as we pondered His words to us in passages from the Gospel according to Saint John. As we now pass from the Easter Season into the season of Ordinary Time, we find new hope and joy to live our Christian lives more closely united to the Risen Christ, Who sends us, along with the Father, the Holy Spirit to be our helper and guide.

The weeks and months ahead are called "ordinary time", but they will be far from "ordinary" if we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit in the ways of holiness and truth. Challenges and difficulties these will undoubtedly be – in our personal lives and in the life of the Church. But, the abiding presence within the Church of God the Holy Spirit, sent by both God the Father and God the Son, grounds us in joyful hope and in persevering fidelity as we continue our pilgrimage towards our true and eternal home. Yes, we pray over and over: "Lord … send the Holy Spirit of Pentecost into our hearts to keep us always in your love" (cf Vigil Mass, Prayer After Communion).

We priests of this diocese were energized and strengthened this past week through our openness to God the Holy Spirit as He spoke to our hearts during our convocation. Father Jack Peterson, a member of the Youth Apostles and a priest of our diocese, has written about our priestly convocation. (His article appears elsewhere in this week’s edition of the HERALD.) Awaiting Pentecost with renewed hope, we experienced in a new way the wonder of God’s love in calling us to be priests and the desire to respond to His call with deeper fidelity and hope-filled joy. This experience of joy and hope brought back to me the wonder of the Pentecost mystery.

Years ago when I was in the seminary, I discovered some truly inspiring books on Christian living by a Dominican priest Father Gerald Vann. I still continue to draw much benefit from rereading excerpts from his books. Permit me to conclude this reflection by sharing with you a brief passage from "The Wonder of Pentecost," the 25th chapter in his book The Son’s Course:

"… Does the Church of today seem remote in spirit from the "little flock" who followed Christ or from the wonders of the first Pentecost? Some would think so, who see only from without the pomp of a ritual, the intransigence of a doctrine, the sometimes creaking machinery of a juridical system, the nature and meaning of which they have not been at pains to study and fathom; some would think so, who forget that when the divine is held in human hands it is easy to miss the divine through a too superficial preoccupation with the griminess or inefficiency of the human hands. Others who have deeply lived the Christian mystery, know that there is still in the Church that mind which was in Christ Jesus; that the Mass is essentially the same act as the primitive breaking of bread; that pomp is not proud when its object is to praise and glorify what is loved; and that by God’s will and mercy, divine life comes to us through the sacraments no matter how unworthy the priest who administers them, and that though many of those who represent the Church may fail in fervor or even sink to betrayal, still the mighty wind blows, the fire burns and kindles and quickens, and more and more are added to the fellowship of the faithful and, ultimately, the communion of saints" (pp 172-73).

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