A new Pentecost Springtime awaits as we emerge from the dark days of winter
By Bishop Mark Beckman
Every Advent is the dawn of a new liturgical year. As the days grow shorter, Christians have for centuries lit candles in preparation for the coming feast of Christmas. The Advent wreath itself has German roots and was made with evergreen branches. As northern Europeans experienced the darkening days of winter (very short, indeed, in my memories of Belgium!), evergreens were a tangible reminder that spring would return after the cold of winter.
It is of course Jesus Christ Himself who is the true Light of the World, the dayspring that brings new life.
Recently I met with the priests of our diocese to lay out a vision for the future. My prayer for all of us is focused on a new Springtime of Pentecost for our whole diocese. The first great moment of Pentecost happens on Easter Sunday evening (John 20), when the Risen Lord appears to the disciples who are behind locked doors—closed for fear and perhaps shame and guilt. They witnessed the traumatic events of the crucifixion. We, too, at times live behind closed doors of fear and shame because of the wounding events in our lives.
None of this prevents the appearance of the Risen Lord. Peace be with you! (He speaks it twice.) Joy replaces fear. No guilt or shame, but healing, as Jesus reveals His own wounds to the Apostles in that upper room. He breathes the Holy Spirit into them and sends them as the Father sent Him. This is the origin of Pentecost.
My prayer is that each of us will continue to encounter in a very personal way the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh for us. That our wounds may be healed by His wounds, that we, too, may know a peace that surpasses all understanding and know we are sent by Him into the world.
The second great moment of Pentecost, 50 days later, is recounted by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. The gift of the Holy Spirit fills the whole room like a mighty, powerful wind, and tongues of fire descend on all gathered. Wind and fire are transformative in their power, and the Apostles begin to speak a new language understood by all! It is the language of God, the language of love, that heals the divisions in humanity, the undoing of that moment of Babel (Genesis 11), when humans became divided against each other and were scattered across the earth.
Pope St. Paul VI spoke of building a “civilization of love,” and Pope St. John Paul II referred to it many times. In 1982 in Rimini, Pope John Paul II proclaimed: “Behold, dear friends, the charge I entrust to you today: be disciples and witnesses of the Gospel, so the Gospel may be the good seed of God’s Kingdom, the civilization of love.”
That is Pentecost in a nutshell.
All of us must contribute, each in our own way, to the new building of a communion of love in our own time and place. We must build together, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the civilization of love here and now.
The priorities I see in the coming years to enable us to fulfill this mission will be:
- A focus on priests and vocations to the priesthood, since an encounter with the Risen Lord is intimately connected to the sacramental mysteries, and all other Christian vocations (diaconate, religious life, marriage, and committed Christian single life).
- A special emphasis on youth and young adults, as we must entrust the light of Christ faithfully to the next generation.
- An outreach beyond ourselves in witness and charity. As Pope Francis often reminds us, the Church must always be on mission, going outside of itself. Our ecumenical and interfaith efforts, our service and charity (think of Catholic Charities and our mobile medical clinic), and all that we do as attractive witnesses to draw others to Christ, are part of our own vocation given by the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
As we light our Advent candles and prepare to celebrate the great feast of Christmas, let us indeed pray for a new Pentecost in our diocese, that each of us may encounter the Risen Lord more deeply in peace and healing, and be sent by Him to build together a profound communion of love, indeed, a civilization of love.
