Posted by Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles empowering them to preach the gospel to all nations. It was the fulfilment of the promise that Jesus made in his farewell discourse to his disciples as recorded in St. John’s Gospel to send to them the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth to guide, to strengthen and to cheer (John 14-16). It would convict the world of sin, of justice and of judgement and it would be a comforter and advocate to the faithful through all the changes and tribulations of this life. It would give them the grace to achieve what they could not do by their own natural strength, and enable them to become by grace what he is by nature.
But why should we see the Holy Spirit as especially present and active in the Church, the Body of Christ? What about other religions and philosophies? Is the Holy Spirit not active and present with them, as well as in the Church? Today, many would hold to a syncretistic view in which the different religions and philosophies of the world all to a degree manifest that there is a spiritual dimension to the world. The different religions of the world may be seen to differ in their rites and ceremonies, but beneath superficial difference there is said to be a fundamental similarity in what they teach, namely that we should do unto others what we would have them do unto us. But in fact when we come to study the different religions of the world we realise that the reverse is actually the case, namely there are many parallels and similarities in their rites and ceremonies, but they are very different in what they teach. When faced by the fact that different newspapers promote the cause of opposing political parties we do not say that they differ in their form, but are fundamentally the same in what they stand for. On the contrary we recognise that though they use a common medium they are very different in the causes that they promote. So to say that the religions of the world do not all say the same thing is simply to be realistic about the situation. This is not to say that there is no truth in other religions, for, as St. John said, the true light that lighteth every man has not left itself without witness (John 1). Many of the fathers of the early Church such as St. Justin Martyr saw other religions and philosophies as containing seeds of the Word, part of the truth, but not the whole truth. But we cannot escape what has been called the scandal of particularity, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and he lived and died in first century Palestine. After he was risen, ascended and glorified, he sent the Holy Spirit to guide his Church into all truth.
But what then does it mean to speak of the Holy Spirit as coming upon the disciples at a particular place and time? The people of Israel, the chosen people of God, were only one people of all the nations of the world, but the purpose of God’s call to Abraham was that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12). The one God was indeed the God of Israel, but not only of Israel, but of all nations. Hence, when God’s purposes for Israel were finally fulfilled, his Kingdom would come and his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, not only for the people of Israel, but for all nations. They looked forward to an age when, as the prophet Joel had foretold, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, and the law would finally be written on the hearts of men (Joel 2). The nations would come to Jerusalem and renounce their idols and worship the one true God.
Now what we are celebrating on this great feast day is the fulfilment of this promise. When the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, it was a sign that the coming age of the Holy Spirit was no longer simply a future hope, but was now a present reality. Now that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on all flesh, it meant that it was time for the nations of the world to renounce their idols and worship the one true God. The disciples, the faithful remnant of Israel, were to be witnesses to the good news of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. All that was necessary was that people should repent and be baptised and they would be filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). This was not simply good advice about how to live, such as might be found in other religions and philosophies, but good news. For the Holy Spirit, the love of God poured into their hearts, would give them grace to become what they were created to be.
This should not be misunderstood as producing a dull uniformity, but rather an infinite variety. For while the Holy Spirit was poured out on all the faithful, each member of the Body of Christ had a different vocation as befitting the different member of the one body. The Holy Spirit has been bestowed on every tribe, nation and tongue. Hence, though the message is the same, it is also one that can be applied to every particular person and every time and place. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were enabled by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel message and be understood by speakers of many different languages. As the gospel is preached to all nations, so the number of tongues that it encompasses increases. It is not a message about an impersonal absolute, or the flight of the alone to the alone, but a very specific message, rooted in the history of a particular nation and time and place. Precisely because of this so called scandal of particularity it is a message that can be applied to all nations.
The message of the Church to the nations is the same now as it was then. Repent and be baptised for the remission of sins and then we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that we will be empowered by that same spirit and that most excellent gift of charity to preach the gospel in our own time and place.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy people, and kindle in us the fire of thy love.