The feast of Pentecost, which the church celebrates this Sunday, closes the Easter season and opens ordinary time, according to the liturgical cycle. Although we follow the different seasons in the church year to hear salvation history over and over again, we live in a post-Pentecost world and we are called to act accordingly. So, as salvation history moves towards its culmination in heaven, how does Pentecost function as a pivot point? In the first reading for the "Mass during the Day," we hear the description of Pentecost, the Jewish Feast of Weeks. Jewish people from all the surrounding areas had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest (and the giving of the Torah). That Pentecost, which followed 50 days after Jesus' resurrection, changed everything for the followers of Christ and for all people open to the good news of Christ. The apostles were afire with the Holy Spirit. They were proclaiming Jesus and his salvation with such fervor that they drew a crowd, and amazingly all the "Jews from every nation under heaven" heard the good news in their own language. About 3,000 persons accepted baptism that day, receiving the Holy Spirit and forming a good part of the early church.  A stained glass window at St. Mary Church in Luxemburg, Wis., depicts the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles at Pentecost. The feast of Pentecost, often referred to as the birthday of the church, is celebrated on May 28 this year. (OSV News photo/Sam Lucero) |
The detail about people from different nations hearing and understanding the apostles’ preaching is a clear reference to the situation at Babel, where God confused the languages of the nations. And it is the good news of Jesus that reverses the confusion at Babel, bringing people together in the church. Babel is infamous as the place where human beings tried to make a name for themselves. The nations gathered there to build a tower that would save them from future floods, as if they could save themselves. They were united, but they did not include God in their thoughts or deeds. God, mercifully, stops them from going too far down this road to perdition. God confuses their languages so they cannot unite in sin and, hopefully, turn to God. The very next chapter in Genesis following the story of Babel begins the story of Abraham, who God promises will become the father of nations and from whom will come the savior. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. Seeing Pentecost in the light of Jesus and his salvation, we understand how God brings the nations together with one voice. The voice of Jesus still comes to us through the church, and the message is the same: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The implications of this new Pentecost are profound and far reaching. In effect, “Christ’s resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost” form a new humanity. “Incorporation into this new humanity comes through faith and Baptism, following the preaching of and free adherence to the Gospel. This Good News is meant for all races” (The Church and Racism: Toward a More Fraternal Society, No. 21). Living in a post-Pentecost world means not only having the confident expectation of eternal life but also practicing our unity in daily life. In Jesus, we are brothers and sisters; we are all children of God through Christ. “Within the Church ‘no inequality arising from race or nationality, social condition or sex’ should exist” (The Church and Racism, No. 22). The same fraternity should be brought to the nations. The burning question, then, is how to emulate the apostles at Pentecost, afire with the Holy Spirit to such a degree that other people are moved to join themselves to Jesus? The answer surely involves rejecting any attempt at saving ourselves apart from God and his plan, and instead yielding ourselves more fully to the gift of the Holy Spirit, given to us at that first Pentecost following Jesus’ resurrection. |
