Seven weeks, that is to say, fifty days have passed since Easter. On this day, the Jews celebrated the “feast of the harvest” or “feast of weeks,” by which they thanked God for the harvest and offered the firstfruits to him. On this day, they also commemorated the giving of the commandments on mount Sinai, which happened more or less a couple of months after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. On this day, the apostles, who, after the ascension of Jesus, were waiting for the fulfillment of his promise, received the Holy Spirit.
In order for us to understand this mystery, it can be useful to reflect on the preface of this Mass. The preface is the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, “in which the priest, in the name of the whole ... people, glorifies God the Father and gives thanks to him for the whole work of salvation or for some particular aspect of it, according to the varying day, festivity, or time of year.” So, especially on the occasion of major solemnities, we find outlined in the preface the mystery celebrated on that day. Well, in today’s preface, addressing God, I will say, “Bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit today on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son. This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth, opened to all peoples the knowledge of God and brought together the many languages of the earth in profession of the one faith.”
So, the first thing to be said speaking of Pentecost is that it is the completion of the paschal mystery. Without Pentecost, Easter would be incomplete. Admittedly, we have already celebrated the main aspects of the paschal mystery—passion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But something is still lacking, namely the outcome of all this: why Jesus suffered passion and death, was buried, rose again and ascended into heaven? The answer to this question is exactly: to give us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, God like the Father and the Son. He also was sent by the Father, like the Son, into the world; but, while the Son became man and, at the end of his mission, went back to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to us to stay with us always.
The preface says, “You bestowed the Holy Spirit today on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son.” With the paschal mystery we have been united to Christ, thus becoming, like him, children of God, more specifically, adopted children of God. Well, we can be children of God precisely because we have been given the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Son. Saint Paul says that it is through the Holy Spirit that we can address God as “Abba, Father!”
The preface continues, “This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth, opened to all peoples the knowledge of God.” It is wrong to think that the Church was born on Pentecost; she already existed; she was born on the cross, when Jesus died. But on Pentecost she began her mission; and she was able to do this, thanks to the Holy Spirit. Why? Not only because he gave the apostles the strength and courage to preach the gospel, but because he opened to all peoples the knowledge of God: without the inner action of the Spirit, the efforts of the apostles would remain fruitless.
Finally, the major gift of the Holy Spirit is unity: he “brought together the many languages of the earth in profession of the one faith” (linguarum diversitatem in unius fidei confessione sociavit). Men, at Babel, with their efforts wanted to remain united, but were scattered and their tongues were confused; now, with the Holy Spirit, keeping their differences, they are united in Christ. Although speaking various languages, they profess one faith, they are one. The paschal mystery is now complete.
Q
