Pentecost continues. The Holy Spirit is alive in the Church. Diverse Spirit-given gifts flourish in the Christian community. Today we, Catholics are privileged to live in a renewed Church, in a unique age of “a new Pentecost”!
This year (2009) the Church, our mother, rejoices as she recalls the 50th anniversary of the surprising announcement of the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XIII in 1959. Vatican II was only the 21st ecumenical council in the Church’s entire history.
Pope John XXII composed a prayer that the Council might be “a new Pentecost.” His intentions for Vatican II became clear: “the spiritual renewal of the Church, pastoral updating (aggiornamento), and the promotion of Christian unity.”
Many people were surprised that this “caretaker” pope (he was already 77 years old) would undertake such an enormous project. Vatican II extended through four sessions (1962-1965), bringing together some 2,500 bishops. It produces 16 documents which capture its message of renewal for both the Church and the world.
On Pentecost 1959, John XXIII established a preparatory commission. On Pentecost 1960, the pope announced the structure of the preparatory period. The Council opened on October 11, 1962, but exactly one week earlier on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4), the pope observed a “day of prayer for the Council”; he made a pilgrimage to Loreto and Assisi to implore Mary, “the first start of the Council,” and Francis to intercede for this “great ecumenical meeting awaited by all.”
In Assisi John XXIII compared Vatican II with Pentecost; he prayed that the bishops would enter “the Council hall of St. Peter’s Basilica as the Apostles and the first disciples of Jesus entered into the Cenacle [Upper Room].”
When the First session of the Council concluded (December 8, 1962), Pope John spoke of his desire that “the acts of the Ecumenical Council meet with the generous and loyal response of the faithful.” Indeed, the acceptance and continual implementation of Vatican II by everyone – clergy and lay faithful alike – remain urgent tasks today – 50 years after John XXIII announced his launch of “a new Pentecost.”
According to the Spirit-inspired vision of John XXIII, when ordinary Catholics – you and I – fully accept the renewal of Vatican II, then and only then “will dawn that new Pentecost which is the object of our yearning – a Pentecost that will increase the Church’s wealth of spiritual strength and extend her maternal influence and saving power to every sphere of human endeavor.” The words of today’s Gospel remain alive and urgent for us: “Receive the Holy Spirit. . . As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Allow me to mention some points continued implementation in our parishes for the ongoing renewal envisioned by Vatican II: (1) Dynamic liturgies so that there will be “full, conscious and active participation” by all the faithful (SC 14); (2) Social justice involvement by the laity: “The laity must take on the renewal of the temporal order as their own special obligation” (AA 7); (3) Commitment to missionary evangelization: “The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature” (AG 2); (4) Deep spiritual renewal: “In the Church, everyone. . . is called to holiness” (LG 39); (5) Respectful Interfaith Dialogue: Catholics should act “prudently and lovingly, through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religious” (NA 2); (6) Profound love of the Eucharist; it is “the source and summit of the whole Christian life” (LG 11).
Pope John Paul II who attended the Council as Bishop of Kraków, Poland has spoken of Vatican II as “an event of the utmost importance in the almost two thousand-year history of the Church,” a “providential event,” “the beginning of a new era in the life of the Church.”
As we celebrate Pentecost today, we thank God for Vatican II, our 20th century Pentecost! We commit ourselves to its implementation, using the words that Pope Benedict XVI spoke when he was elected Pope in 2005: “I also wish to confirm my determination to continue to put the Second Vatican Council into practice.” Come, Holy Spirit. Veni, Sancte Spiritus.
- Fr. James H. Kroeger, M.M.
Paul’s Concept of the Spirit
Paul’s concept of the Spirit is rooted in Scriptures where the Spirit is associated with God’s power and wisdom. The Spirit is also thought as the life-giving force that originates with God.
But after his turnabout as a result of Christ’s revelation, the Spirit for Paul is no longer only the “spirit of God” as he is usually described in the Old Testament. Nor is he any longer a “Holy Spirit” generally understood in the Old Testament and other writings in Judaism. The Spirit is the Spirit of the Risen Lord, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Son of God. Just as the Spirit expressed himself in the action of God, now he expresses himself in the life and action of the Crucified and Risen Christ.
Because the Spirit is Christ’s he is associated not only with power and blessing as we usually see him, but also with the cross of Christ, with lowliness and service to others. This Jesus-character of the Spirit explains why the supreme sign of his presence is love. Love is made possible by the Spirit and love is the greatest “fruit” of the Spirit. Paul puts love first among the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22). Love unites all the gifts of the Spirit.
Since Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, he now relates to the believers in the world via the Spirit. For Paul, the Spirit convinces us that we are God’s children; it is through the Spirit that we cry Abba, “Father!” (Rom 8:16). The Spirit also helps us in our prayer; in fact, there is no true prayer without the presence of the Spirit within us. Paul writes, “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groaning” (Rom 8:26).
- Gil A. Alinsangan, SSP
Source: SAMBUHAY, Year 22 No. 64, May 31, 2009
