A Homily for Pentecost, 2008
Today we celebrate Pentecost, the third holiest celebration of our Christian Faith. We know that it is a day when we wear red at Mass, and for remembering of the great event of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in the upper room. We see this gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate promised by Christ at His Ascension, as the manifestation of the Church. While we remember all those things that we learned in our religious education class, have we really taken the time to ponder the meaning and significance of Pentecost?
First, on what can we base our reflections on the Holy Spirit? In speaking of God the Father, we can base our reflections in some measure on philosophy; He is the Unmoved Mover, or the First Cause. In speaking about God the Son, we can base ourselves on history; even non-Christians recognize the historical reality that at a particularly time and place in history Jesus of Nazareth lived. But what means do we have at our disposal for speaking about the Holy Spirit? None, other than Sacred Scripture, and “spiritual experience”. Jesus tells us Himself that of the Spirit the world, “neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you” (John 14:17). By spiritual experience I do not mean only our own personal experience, though that is a good starting place. Rather I mean also the experience of the Holy Spirit in the Church throughout history, which is nothing other than what we call Sacred Tradition. Sacred Tradition is infallibly the Word of God, as is Sacred Scripture. They are the two wings of the Dove of God’s Revelation.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit could have manifested Himself in many ways. In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we hear that the Spirit manifested Himself as a “driving wind” and as “tongues as of fire”. However, St. Luke in his account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles places great emphasis on the phenomenon of the Apostles speaking in different tongues. Why? This is not the well-known speaking in unknown tongues during a prayer assembly, which St. Paul tells us must always be followed by its interpretation by someone else. Clearly in the Pentecost account there was no need for this “interpretation” because “each one heard them speaking in his own language.”
The constant response of the tradition of the Church has been that St. Luke wanted to create a tacit contrast between what happened in the construction of the tower of Babel and what takes place now at Pentecost. In fact, in the expanded, optional Pentecost Vigil, the account of Babel is one of the readings. The relationship between Babel and Pentecost is one that contains both an element of similarity, and one of contrast. The element of similarity or affinity is that both the Tower of Babel and Pentecost involved a project of unity among all people, made possible and manifested by the unity of language. In Genesis we are told that all the people of the earth “spoke the same language” (Gen. 11:1) when they came together to build the tower. On the day of Pentecost each person hears the apostles “speaking in his own language” (Acts 2:6).
The element of contrast consists in the type of unity pursued, and this makes a big difference. At Babel it is a human unity; decided by human beings and having the goal of obtaining glory for human beings. Note that in the Genesis account the people do not offer their work to make a name for God or to give Him Glory, rather they say, “Let us make a name for ourselves!” (Gen. 11:4). The project at Babel is one seeking power and fame, and born out of arrogance. In contrast, on the day of Pentecost, the people hear the apostles speaking in their native language “of the mighty acts of God” (Acts 2:11). The apostles are not raising a monument to themselves but to God.
The difference is what is at the center. Is it a unity according to the flesh, or is it a unity according to the Spirit? Today when we hear the word “universal” we tend just to think about something that pertains to everyone, and that is true, but it forgets an element of the real meaning of that word. The original meaning of the word “universal” was “that which is turned towards the one” (from the Latin, uni = “one” and versum = “turn towards”). This is important for us to keep in mind, for the Church is universal not only when it aims to reach “the ends of the earth” but also when it draws all the ends of the earth towards its center which is the head of the body, the risen Christ Jesus.
Where is our center? This is the essential question for us to ask ourselves today? Do we think that our salvation lies within our own power? Are we like the arrogantly pious builders at Babel who know God but do not render Him the glory and thanks due Him? Do we seek mostly to make a name for ourselves? Or do we exercise the most necessary virtue of humility by accepting that all is from God; that He alone saves us and offers us redemption. Do we put God as the center of our lives so that in Him we live, and move, and have our being? Do we proclaim with our lives the mighty works of God?
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy Faithful; and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
[This homily was inspired by Chapter 1 of The Mystery of Pentecost by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, “‘And They Began to Speak in Different Tongues’: The Lukan Pentecost and the Spirit of Unity.” Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001.]
