As an embodied spirit, the human person requires “definition” because meaning is largely derived from limits and boundaries. An indefinite existence cannot supply the substance necessary for life to be purposeful or worthwhile. A simple example can be illustrated through a marriage. If there were no commitment, which is a kind of definition, it does not take long for marriage to disintegrate. Likewise, in this century where social interaction can aptly be summed up by neologisms like “cellfish” or “textpectation”,[1] a group of friends very soon finds itself retreating behind the digital barrier of pings, buzzes and rings which defeats the purpose of gathering to “chillax”. Indeed, we seem to exist “together alone”, not realising that the inability to connect face to face is a result of a digital addiction that knows no limits.
The point is this tangible boundary or restriction that “defines” who we are is clearly brought to the fore for us in this pandemic. How so? Pentecost marks the “definitive” end to the season of Easter. What does a categorical conclusion really mean considering that we are still hemmed in by this lockdown? The way Man has been created, the passage of his time is stamped by the change of seasons be it monsoon or dry, winter, spring, summer, or fall. The Pandemic has now dragged on into the 2nd year and the promised of a flattened curve is constantly revised. The end seems to retreat beyond the horizon.
Set within this paralysing Pandemic is an event of serious significance—Pentecost or the Descent of the Holy Spirit. In 2018, Pope Francis decreed that the votive Mass in honour of the Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris (Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church), be inserted into the universal Church’s liturgical calendar as a Memorial[2] on the day after Pentecost, that is, on Monday. The title of Mary as Mother of the Church is nothing new. It was not as if Pope Francis felt like it and he went ahead to impose it. St Augustine had spoken about it as early as the 4th century. St Leo the Great says that the birth of the Head is also the birth of the Body which indicates that Mary is at once the Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and mother of the members of His Mystical Body, the Church. In short, for as long as the Church has had doctrinal formulations on Our Lady, we recognise that in every Marian title, the focus is not Mariological but rather Christological.
In this simple act of inscribing a votive Mass of Mary, the Mother of the Church into the Universal Church calendar, we catch a glimpse of what Pentecost truly is. In 1943, Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical “Mystici corporis Christi” on the “Mystical Body of Christ”. There, the Pope explained that the Church was “born from the side of Christ our Saviour on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living”. (MCC 28). At Pentecost, the Church was made manifest for she had already been born at Calvary.
She was not known to the world as yet because the Apostles had been hiding behind closed doors. On this day, through the Holy Spirit who descended upon the Apostles like tongues of fire, they acquired the strength necessary to courageously proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Christ. Pentecost was the Epiphany of the Church.
That means it was also the birth of evangelisation. St (Pope) Paul VI said in Evangelii nuntiandi[3] that the Church exists to evangelise because the Lord before His Ascension gave His Apostles the Great Commission to go and baptise all the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Precisely, He is required for this momentous task of preaching Christ crucified.
The Holy Spirit freed the Apostles from the clutches of fear so that Peter could stand in front of the multitude and boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Lord. As the Catechism reminds us, “the outpouring of the Holy Spirit AS ONCE granted to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost brings an increase and deepening of our baptismal grace. Amongst the effects of its coming, we are rooted more firmly in Christ and makes our bond with the Church more perfect. As soldiers in the Church Militant, the Holy Spirit enables us to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never be ashamed of the Cross”. (CCC 1302ff).
In his letter to the Corinthians, St Paul clearly asserted that “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit”. And, given that “There is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed”.[4] We have a task ahead. Pentecost and the Holy Spirit both direct our attention to this central mission of the Church. She exists to proclaim Christ and to bring all creation into the fold of His Body.
To say that the Holy Spirit is least understood Person of the Trinity may reflect the current understanding of Who He is. Partly, this could be due to an unquestioned assumption that He is basically spontaneity. We may derive this idea from the description that He is like the wind that blows where it wants. Swayed by this spontaneous Bohemian notion of freedom, we imagine Him to be unfettered. It is over-rated to say the least because the “freedom” of the Spirit must be linked to the central kerygma of the Church, which is, Jesus Christ is Lord.
The Holy Spirit is not exciting the way we understand exhilaration as an adrenalin rush. Despite the frailty of her children, the Church remains the primary instrument through which the Holy Spirit works so that Jesus Christ may be recognised and embraced. Without the Spirit’s “limit” or a way of proceeding that is tightly bound to the Church, we will constantly be charmed by this lofty ideal of transforming the world into a globalised fraternity[5]. It is tempting because it “feels” achievable[6], and this involves “co-opting” the Spirit into an “extra-Christological”[7] and “extra-Ecclesial”[8] programme since the task of proclaiming Christ in this post-truth society is too fraught with difficulties. It appears easier to be united in this worldwide enterprise than to be united in Christ.[9] But, the Tower of Babel reminds us that the universality we desire[10] is not established by an endeavour to build a kingdom for God[11] but rather the fraternity is founded in the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord. In Him, through baptism, we become brothers and sisters. Thus, Pentecost is a sobering celebration which reminds us that we are part of the Great Commission. Send forth your Spirit O Lord and renew the face of the earth. Indeed, the Spirit is waiting to renew us each one of us so that we might become better messengers in the Great Commission of Jesus.
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[1] Cellfish. (n). an individual who continues talking loudly on or watching a clip with full volume through the mobile without consideration of others. Textpectation. (n). the anticipation or expectant feeling of waiting for a person to text back.
[2] Decretum de celebration Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris in Calendario Romano Generali.
[3] Cf. EN§14. Evangelising is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelise, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.
[4] Cf. EN§22.
[5] It is a vision of the universality which is pretty much prelapsarian—that is, without sin.
[6] Six-Million-Dollar Man, “We have the technology”…
[7] Christ is truly a stumbling block in this universalist project.
[8] If Christ is not necessary for this project to succeed, the Church is even more unnecessary.
[9] Pre-Pandemic, Davos’ Great Reset was supposed to be this “universal” and “globalised” project of rebuilding the world—a project which rivals the arrogance of Babel.
[10] Why this fascination? The human spirit has an infinite reach because man is imago Dei (made in the image and likeness of God). Therefore, we harbour within us this divine longing; a yearning for the infinite. Without proper “guidance” (or supernatural assistance) we will still reach for the infinite. (Albeit, looking for the infinite in the wrong places). The dilemma is we will attempt to grasp it, not realising that this “grasping” is precisely that—a kind of “grabbing”. We tend to “grasp” or “grab” because our reach (natural inclination) for God has been “vitiated” by sin. In that sense the Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father to assist us in this upward journey to heaven—in truly forming the Body of Christ. The undertaking of this universal brotherhood without Christ is bound to fail.
[11] The ideal of a universal fraternity is glamorous and enticing because it is warm and fuzzy. But all we need is just “one” escaped virus and this fraternity very quickly retreats behind the shield of a Vaccine Passport with the boundary clearly marked as “we” vs “you”, vaccinated vs non-vaccinated, infected vs non-infected. The Saints, precisely because they are brothers and sisters of Christ see no difference between the vaccinated and noninfected and non-infected. Many have died serving the brothers and sisters in Christ. Caveat: In this age, to “see no difference” does not mean that believers ignore science. Instead that medical knowledge is contextualised with regard to the practice of the faith. For example, a front-liner doctor who takes ALL the precautions deemed as necessary by science also recognises that despite all precautions, the prevention of death is never ABSOLUTE because he knows and accepts that the domains of life and death belong to God.
