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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “ When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.” (Acts 2, 1-4). With these words the Acts of the Apostles describe the event of the Church's first Pentecost, promised by Jesus before he ascended into heaven (cfr. Lk 24, 49).
The Holy Spirit was to come but none of the disciples imagined how it would happen. Even the Lord Jesus, when speaking of the working of the Spirit in the soul, compares it to “wind” (cfr. Jn 3, 8), as if to underline that the Spirit is unpredictable, uncontrollable, the Spirit can never be caged in our human plans and projects, the Spirit always escapes our “clutch” because, we might say, the Holy Spirit is the infinite Freedom of God.
The Church, from the very beginning has been in the hands of the Holy Spirit. It is not we who decide her course, her development, the one, principal agent of her days, her celebrations, her mysteries and events, and her fruitful works is the Holy Spirit who is the Soul of the Church! “The Church is continually moulded and guided by the Spirit of her Lord. She is a living body whose vitality is, precisely, a fruit of God's invisible Spirit ” (Benedict XVI, Angelus 31 May 2009).
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would lead the disciples to the whole truth step by step (cfr. Jn 16, 13). This has been happening for two thousand years, since the Spirit began to work so powerfully in the hearts of the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost. From then on the Holy Spirit with his anointing, gave 'irresistible' power to their proclamation.
When for example we read the letters of St Paul we cannot fail to be surprised by the extraordinary depth of the words, the breadth and validity of the issues treated; they strike the hearts and minds of those who listen without prejudice, open to the truth. Sad to say many Catholics fail to realise that those Letters, like the Gospel and other New Testament writings, were written with the power of the Spirit of the Risen Christ! He is the author of those pages. If we were to speak of the “author's rights” of these writings, the rights would certainly not be attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, or Peter or Paul, … but to the Holy Spirit who inspired them! These are no ordinary writings, they are “Word of God”, not “word of man”. In fact we are astonished at their harmony: John never contradicts Peter, Paul never contradicts Mark and so on. How could they if the Author of the letters of Peter and those of Paul is one and the same!
Jesus made his disciples a solemn promise: “the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you” (Jn 14, 26). The Spirit “will reveal to you the things to come” (Jn 16, 13) and “the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Mt 10, 20), in situations of persecution! The Apostles had to “learn” to accept the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to make decisions with Him, never on their own. After Pentecost, Peter says with any ambiguity: “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves” (Acts 15, 28). “ the Holy Spirit and ourselves ”, this is the Church's “ operative formula ”, her secret since the beginning. “ The Holy Spirit and ourselves ”: never us alone without Him, and Him alone without us, but everything for Him, with Him, subject to Him!
To glorify the Lord Jesus we need the Paraclete working in our souls, otherwise instead of giving glory to God we take glory ourselves! Every one of the Apostles, after being fortified by the Holy Spirit, put aside his own ambitions, the search for human glory, more or less hidden like ours, to make room for the glory of God. With Pentecost Jesus triumphantly entered their souls. The doors of the first disciples of Jesus, were thrown open with the coming of the Holy Spirit. A breeze was not enough, there was need of the “ impetuous wind”, the “fire" of the Holy Spirit which Jesus came to bring on the earth (cfr. Lk 12, 49)!
Only one person in the Upper Room was familiar with that baptism, with that 'power from on high' the Blessed Virgin Mary. At Nazareth, at the very first nella Pentecost, she experienced the Holy Spirit who made her Mother of the Redeemer! Without that Pentecost at Nazareth, there could be no Pentecost in Jerusalem. Amidst the Apostles Our Lady intercedes with God, to bring upon the Church, at the beginning and in the future, the coming of the Paraclete: the Bride calls the Bridegroom! The Mother of Jesus was there, as she was at the foot of the cross, to bear witness to Jesus, to offer him her pure faith, without shadow of doubt, that everything Her Son had promised would come about. She alone had such faith, she alone could have such faith. With Mary the Apostles felt safe. They had an advocate in their midst, as at the Wedding Feast in Cana when the wine ran out and Mary obtained from Jesus the miracle of the changing of water into wine. The glory of God was revealed to them and the disciples believed in the Lord (cfr. Jn 2, 11). In the Upper Room in Jerusalem, a far greater change was necessary, a change of heart and mind for the Apostles. And the miracle happened!
May this miracle of a change of mind and heart, of transformation in Christ, happen also for us, through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and our Advocate: “Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam”. (Agenzia Fides 3/6/2009; righe 71, parole 1064)
