Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost, and the end of the Easter season. Today we recall and remember the Holy Spirit, who is given in fullness to the Church, enabling it to testify to Jesus crucified and risen.
In the Gospel, the Lord says to His apostles: “You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). To testify is to bear witness; to testify is to see or hear something, and be able to vouch for it; a witness can also be a messenger – “in this sense the apostles are witnesses who tell the world of the dying and rising of Jesus” (Ignatius New Testament Study Bible, Scott Hahn ed., pg. 505, 2010). So, the apostles are witnesses of the fact that Jesus Christ, who suffered, was crucified, and died, is indeed alive. During the entire Easter season we too remembered and recalled the fact that Christ is alive. He moves and acts in the world, but in a particular way, He is active in His Church. The Father and Jesus Christ both send the Holy Spirit upon the believers, and the Holy Spirit says to the believers: see, Jesus’ testimony and message is true. This is so that, in turn, the believers too may testify.
We too are called to witness to the reality that Christ is alive: to paraphrase the words of Christ from the Gospel, you also are to testify. You and I are called to testify. Being a Christian is never a private affair. We are to testify by our behaviour, by our actions, by our words, by our prayer. We testify by not being ashamed of religious symbols, such as a cross, a crucifix, the Rosary, or a holy painting. We testify by attending public worship – your attendance at Holy Mass is a form of testimony. We testify by speaking up in the public sphere about Christian faith and morals. And we testify too by our works of charity, by social involvement, because in the needy person we are able to see another Christ. Our culture tells us that our Christian faith should be private and personal. Keep your Christian faith to yourself, says our culture. You are not to impose your faith on others. In fact, there is a great hunger in our society for faith, and for the Christian faith in particular. People around us have tasted absolute freedom and unlimited consumerism, and are now hungering for meaning and purpose, and are now hungering for moral norms and boundaries. And when these moral norms also come from a relationship with God Himself – it is a very attractive proposition. Of course, it takes courage to testify about faith, because we are told keep it private, keep it personal: at school, at work, at university. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. In the words of St. Augustine, “The Holy Spirit by His testimony made others testify; taking away fear from the friends of Christ, and converting the hatred of His enemies into love” (Catena aurea, vol. 4, pg. 394, 2014). It is the Holy Spirit who takes fear away from us, makes us bold witnesses, and even changes the hearts of the enemies of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, just because we are witnesses, that does not mean that we are perfect. In the second reading, Saint Paul writes to those who are already Christian, and warns that those engaging in the works of the flesh will not inherit the Kingdom of God. And the works of the flesh are “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing.” The Holy Spirit not only gives us courage to testify, but also purifies us like a fire. The Holy Spirit is not just a peaceful dove, but a powerful wind. In fact, I remember that one Pentecost several years ago there was a great windstorm in the Valley. But the Holy Spirit is also our defender: In the words of St. Irenaeus, “Since we have our accuser, we need an Advocate as well.” The Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, convinces the world of sin – but He does so for our sanctification, for our conversion.
This year, Pentecost falls in May, the month of Mary. In the words of St. John Paul II, “Mary remains with the Apostles in expectation of Pentecost and…she is present in the midst of the pilgrim Church from generation to generation through faith and as the model of the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom. 5:5)” (St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 42). Last week, I quoted Pope Francis who spoke of Mary as exemplar of Christian hope. The Pope in 2020 added the invocation “Mother of Hope” to the Litany of Loreto. This week, we recall Mary who was present and active during Pentecost, and who now accompanies the Church from generation to generation.
We are to be witnesses of the Risen Christ. We are to testify about Jesus alive and active in the Church. We are to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit, and with the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, and the Mother of Hope.
(Fr. Paweł Ratajczak, OMI, May 19, 2024)