Homily for Pentecost

On this Feast of Pentecost we both commemorate and celebrate the Gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The Spirit had already been made visible in the form of a dove at the Lord’s Baptism, but that event was a Revelation, and not yet a universal Gift.

Now, at that first Pentecost, the Spirit is given to the Church, made visible in tongues of fire, and experiential to the senses as “a strong, driving wind,” Of course, the Holy Spirit had always been present  — if invisible —
+ to Creation
+ to the Chosen People
+ in the Law and the Prophets
+ in the Incarnation of Christ

…and now to the Church, enacting and enlivening the presence of Christ in all ages.

The Holy Spirit is the great communicator of the Holy Trinity, communicating to mankind the Holy Will of God the Father, as well as the Divine Love of God the Son… and transfers a measure of the divine life of the Holy Trinity to the souls of us mere mortals. It is in this spark of divinity that the Holy Spirit enables us to come to know God, at least as far as feeble human minds can grasp this Mystery.

Coming to know God is a life-long process that will only come to completion in heaven, but which gives us a direction for our lives here on earth. Where and how shall we find Him?

There is nowhere where God is not present, except in the midst of our sin, yet even there He does not abandon us. God is present wherever there is faith, hope and charity… which brings to mind the ancient chant: “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.”  (Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found.)

Finding this omnipresent God, however, can be quite challenging sometimes, but this is where the Holy Spirit does His best work. Our search for God begins with prayer in which we might think that we’re taking the initiative, but all prayer is actually a response to God who is perpetually attempting to break into our consciousness.

Think of the opening line of Psalm 40: “I have waited and waited for the Lord…” We should never make judgments about the quality or efficacy of our prayer. Seeking God in prayer requires:
+ an attitude of availability
+ a willingness to wait in patience and humility
+ an openness to allow God to show Himself in the manner that He chooses, not necessarily as I might like Him to do so.

The author of “The Cloud of Unknowing” wrote, back in the 14th century that “Nothing is so precious as time.” So, when we voluntarily make time for prayer, we are giving to God that which humans find most precious.

Humankind is religious by nature, no matter what secular powers might claim about our humanity, or demand of a godless, values-neutral society, which is, of course, an impossibility. This awareness of our human religiosity annuls the hollow mantra: “Well, I’m spiritual but not religious.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “The desire for God is written on the human heart, because Man is created by God… and for God.” We can see this truth manifesting itself through the ages in the Church: Saint Augustine described this much earlier than our Catechism (in the 4th century) in two distinct statements: “God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.” — and — “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless ’til they rest in Thee.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas, 900 years later, defines prayer as “An expression of Man’s desire for God… which God Himself has placed in Man, taking this expression into the soul, becoming the very essence of prayer.”

All prayer, then, is good, and as the Trappist monk Thomas Merton would write 700 years after that: “The will to pray is the very heart of prayer.” Even sin has, within it, a need to call out to God who, in His mercy, will restore sin’s spent holiness.

So, now, coming back to the Holy Spirit on this Feast of Pentecost: Prayer is the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit creates the urge, and deepens the desire for prayer. Then the Spirit carries prayer upward, and God’s response downward. The Spirit, whose Hebrew name is ruah, or “breath,” enables prayer to become the daily breath of our soul. But what of God’s response? Must we wait 40 years, as suggested in Psalm 40? More often that not, God’s answer to our prayer is communicated in silence, but this silence should not be misconstrued as absence, distance, or refusal.

Silence, in all eternity, is the basis of God the Father’s communication with God the Son, communicated through the Holy Spirit. Here is where one might say, “Silence is golden.” However, one might also say that God’s silence is frustrating,
fearful or maddening.

Even the Lord Jesus experienced this silence at the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Father, let this cup pass me by… but not my will, but Thine be done.” … and then on the Cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” 

God the Father’s eventual, silent answer was the Resurrection.

With prayer, we are not necessarily liberated from trials and suffering, but we can live through them in silent union with Christ in His suffering, in hope of sharing eventually in His Resurrection. Our prayer, animated by the Holy Spirit, enables us to live life with its trials and sufferings, trusting, with patience and humility, in God, who will answer us as He answered His Son.

Saint Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit prays within us with sighs too deep for words, joining our unspoken sighs with God’s unimaginable love which is the basis of His response. This, then, is the reason for celebrating our need for the Holy Spirit on this Feast of Pentecost, and for calling upon the Spirit to communicate our love, devotion, and our deep hopes to God the Father, who will respond through the same Spirit with His love and His care for us.