What is Pentecost all about?
[A mural in the basilica at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO; sorry, I do not know who the artist is]
HAPPY PENTECOST!
OK, a little survey. At how many of your parishes did you have one (or more) of Mass readings in a foreign language, that is in a language other than the dominant language of most of the parishioners? What languages did you hear?
I had all four of the Masses at the Our Lady of Sorrows campus, and the second reading was done in Polish, Phillipino, Spanish and Hungarian. Of course the vast majority of the parishioners speak English. The Gloria was sung in a mixture of English, Spanish, and we signed (American Sign Language) part of it. Also this was done to “re-create the experience of the first Pentecost.”
What’s wrong with this? Well, first it fails to recognize that the celebration of Pentecost (fifty days after Passover) started over a thousand years before Jesus Christ. Pentecost was, and is, one of the top three holiest days for the Jewish people, and time for given thanks for the first fruits of the land. It was a pilgrimage feast, meaning that all the men of Israel were suppose to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice in the Temple. That is why there were Jews from all over the Meditterean there.
The reason why the Apostles were given the gift of speaking in foreign tongues was so that the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus the Savior, could be understood by all those gathered around them. This is what we mean by a charism of the Holy Spirit; they are not give necessarily for the recipient’s benefit, but rather for the building up of the Church. The focus really should not be on the speaking in tongues, but on the universality of Christ’s message of salvation. I wonder how many people really understood that when they sat there (hopefully reading the second reading in the missalette) as they heard the Word of God proclaimed in a language they did not understand. I fear that instead of “re-creating” the experience of Pentecost, that we were actually “re-creating” the experience from the book of Genesis, namely the Tower of Babel. Of course the lesson we are suppose to get from the story of the Tower of Babel is the effect of human pride and arrogance, thinking that we can reach God all on our own effort. Instead of promoting universality it created division.
The funny thing is that as Catholics of the Roman Rite we do have a language that is meant to be used to promote our unity and the universality of the Gospel — Latin. How many of you heard any of the readings, any of the Mass for that matter, proclaimed in Latin? Probably not many, yet every Pope since the Second Vatican Council has reaffirmed the teaching of that Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, see #36 and 54). In fact, Pope Benedict XVI, in his recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, again encouraged the use of Latin in the Mass, particularly at international gatherings.
What is Pentecost for the Christian? It is the birth of the Church, and what is the Church? The Church is a life. The Church is nothing more and nothing less than the Life of Jesus Christ, remaining incarnate throughout history in all places. Msgr. Luigi Guissani, in his book, Why the Church? (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001), says this about the Church, “What the Church is for all men is Jesus Christ’s self-communication to the world” (p. 86). Giussani then goes on to quote from another important theologian of the 20th century, Romano Guardini, “What does the event of Pentecost mean for the Christian life? Before it happened, Christ presented himself — in person — ‘to the eyes’ of men; there was an abyss between them and Him. They did not understand Him; He did not come to be something of ‘theirs.’ … Pentecost makes Christ, his Person, his Life and his redeeming action part of ‘their’ reality . … Pentecost is the hour the Christian faith was born, the moment of being in Christ; not because of a mere ‘religious experience,’ but by the hand of the Holy Spirit” (Romano Guardini, Vom Wesen des Christentums, Wurzburg: Werkbund Verlag, 1938, pp. 41-42).
As we celebrant the third holiest day for us Christians, let us make that Life become the most vibrant part of us. Let it enliven every aspect of us, so that like St. Paul we can cry out, that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. We must avoid the heresy of dualism, where we put our Catholic Faith in one box and the rest of our life in another box. Our Catholic Faith must BE our life; in our parish church and community, in our family and homes, at our work-place, in the marketplace, and in the public square. Vivo Christus!
May 27th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I agree with your Tower of Babel assessment….I have fought this battle for years with choir members who want to sing in Spanish. There are maybe 5 people TOPS in the parish whose native language is Spanish. No one else can understand the lyrics, and it’s frustrating for them. At best it’s a distraction.