Actually both the Solemnities of Pentecost and Easter share the same reality concerning the Holy Spirit. Firstly, Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season where the Acts describe the promised Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles. The Gospel, however, harkens back to Easter Sunday where according to John the Evangelist, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Cenacle. In effect, there are two accounts of the Holy Spirit’s coming. He was gifted by Christ at the Cenacle and He was sent by Him at Pentecost.
The description of fiery tongues of flames coming to rest on the heads of the Apostles, Our Lady and those who gathered in the upper room, paints a picture of a Church waiting to burst forth into the world. This imagery is traditionally associated with the birth of the Church.
The Church, while being a force for good, is not a gathering of do-gooders. The association of Confirmation with Pentecost shows that the presence of the Holy Spirit transforms the entire person which explains the Apostles running out of the upper room ready to evangelise the world.
The account in the Gospel however records another tack. Jesus breathed the Spirit upon them granting them peace and also forgiveness. In effect, He sent them out to reconcile the world through the forgiveness of sins. Like God breathing life into Adam, Christ breathes the Spirit upon the Apostles before missioning them to the world.
Both evangelisation and reconciliation are two sides of the one mission of the Holy Spirit. The structure of the seven Sacraments supports this enterprise. Firstly, we need to know who we are. We are initiated through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist to become the Body of Christ. Secondly, if we use the analogy of Church militant, that is, the Church here on earth has a mission, then the remaining four Sacraments can be grouped into two under the Sacraments of Healing and Sacraments of Service. Both Confession and Anointing belong to the reconciling presence of the Church in the world whereas Matrimony and Holy Orders belong in the service of evangelisation. We bear witness to Christ in the world through reconciliation and sanctification.
In other words, Pentecost has cut out our job for us. Proclaim the Gospel and reconcile the world to Christ the Saviour. Easier said than done, actually. This is why we need the Holy Spirit. He is given to the Church to help her navigate through this world. Given the present trend to polarise reality, we need to know that both the Holy Spirit and the Church are not diametrically opposed to each other.
It is not as if the Holy Spirit suddenly appeared on Easter Sunday as Jesus breathed upon the Apostles nor at Pentecost when He descended upon them. Our Creed tells us that He had spoken through the Prophets. The difference now is that the age of the Church is also the age of the Holy Spirit. The Father was most seen and revealed in the act of creation. The Son was most seen and revealed in the act of redemption. Now the Spirit is most seen and revealed in the sanctification of those who follow Jesus and seek the will of the Father.
That is exactly the Church’s mission which the Holy Spirit has a central role in animating. The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists how present the Holy Spirit is. He is present in the Scriptures that He inspired, in the Tradition, of which the Church is always a timeless witness, in the Church’s Magisterium, which He assists, in the Sacramental Liturgy, where He brings us into communion with Jesus, in prayer where He intercedes for us, in the different charisms and ministries through which He builds up the Church, in the signs of apostolic and missionary life, in the witness of saints through whom He manifests His holiness and continues the work of salvation. (CCC #688).
In short, He animates the Body of Christ by teaching through the Bishops, by sanctifying the sons and daughters of the Church through prayer and the Sacraments, and He evangelises through the apostolic ministries and works of the Church. The Holy Spirit has been very much active in the history of our world and continues to be active in the life of the Church. Yet we all know it is not easy to reconcile everything that the Church does with the Holy Spirit?
It is not easy simple because some seem to have confused the Holy Spirit with spontaneity which for most of the time is taken to mean that one should not be tied down by “rules” or Tradition. In other words, the Spirit is constantly trying to break free from the restraints of the past. Conflating the Holy Spirit with the spirit of the times or rather the spirit of the changing times has only resulted in a rise of an anti-institutional attitude against the Church.
Perhaps an answer is found in how the liturgical calendar is organised. Next week we return to Ordinary Time. Sure, for two Sundays we will have the Solemnities of the Blessed Trinity and after that Corpus et Sanguis Christi. Still they belong in Ordinary Time and this is instructive because it shows us that Pentecost does not usher in a “new” age as if “newer” were the better age. Neither does it inaugurate a “freer” Church. We are not “living after” Pentecost. Instead, we are “living out” Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is specifically gifted so as to transform and strengthen us into better witnesses of the Saving Mysteries of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Thus, the Holy Spirit is not a spirit that validates whatever the spirit of the times demands. Instead He animates the Church so that she can effectively evangelise humanity and reconcile creation in its entirety under the reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
