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| The Ever-Present Pentecost | |
St. Luke's account of Pentecost has a subtle way of making a powerful point.
In his Gospel, St. Luke almost always marks the end of individual events in the life of Christ with some clear signal to the reader. The first proclamation of the gospel at Nazareth, with its confrontation between Jesus and the synagogue, ends with the words "but passing through their midst he went away" (Lk 4:30). From there the text transitions to the next story. The Transfiguration ends with the words "they kept silence and told no one in those days of anything of what they had seen. The next day..." (Lk.9:36-7). And the Passion ended with the words "he breathed his last" (Lk. 23:46). The appearance of the risen Christ at Emmaus is marked as ended with the words "and he vanished out of their sight" (Lk 24:31). However, when it comes to St. Luke's account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, there is no point in the text at which one can naturally say, "Pentecost ended here."
Does Pentecost end after Peter's first preaching with the people asking what they should do (Acts 2:37)? No. For at that point Peter promises the Spirit still to come to those who repent and are baptized. Does Pentecost end with Peter and John going up to the temple to preach at the beginning of chapter 3? No. For it is there they start to work healing miracles. Does it end at any point in following chapters? No. For several times more the Spirit takes action — filling Peter (Acts 4:8), shaking the place of prayer again (Acts 4:31), and filling Stephen (Acts 6:10). The chapters are so bursting with proclamations and "signs and wonders" that throughout these chapters the sending of the Spirit is better described as a continuous presence than as a well-delineated event (although events burst forth from the presence). By leaving his account of Pentecost without any clear signal of when it was over, St. Luke intends to make a point: Pentecost is still going on.
In the ever-present Pentecost, the Father and the Son forevermore pour forth the Lord the giver of life upon the Church. Luke tells of many works of the Spirit. The Spirit makes people speak in tongues, heal in the name of Jesus, be bold in proclamation, hold all their property in common, devote themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, enter into common prayer, break bread together, distribute alms, and abound in peace and joy. The peace and joy of the Spirit persist amidst persecution. The peace and joy even persist amidst betrayal by fellow Christians, e.g. Ananias and Sapphira. St. Paul, in his epistles, tells of more works of the Spirit. The Spirit makes manifest the secret sins of people's hearts (1 Cor. 14:23-25). The Spirit fashions us into people of "joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal 5:22-23). The Spirit gives us the heart of Jesus Christ. For the Spirit makes us cry "Abba" (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6). And spiritual directors down through the ages tell us of the quieter yet most important work of the Spirit — a steady growth in personal virtue.
The Church is the sign of the ever-present Pentecost. The Spirit works today as ever before. The Church is still abounding with the charismatic gifts. Miraculous healings in the name of Jesus still occur (e.g. Lourdes). Boldness of proclamation is still taking place (e.g. Pope John Paul II). Manifesting the secrets of the heart still goes on (e.g. St. Pio of Petrelcina). The holding of all things in common is far more widespread than one might initially think. There are hundreds of thousands of consecrated religious in the Church who have renounced their right to private property and hold all goods in common. Works of mercy burst forth from lay and religious alike. As for devotion to the teaching of the Apostles, Scripture groups and Catechism groups can be found in every part of the world (and we have not even mentioned private prayer with Scripture). The breaking of the bread together has been going on at every Mass for thousands of years. Other sorts of common prayer show up in prayer groups and monastic choirs. And there are many ordinary people — people one never hears about on television — whose virtue is daily growing little by little. Who moves the little flock of the Lord to bother with any of it?
Most importantly of all, there are Catholics who carry about within them a peace and joy that the world cannot give. They see the countersigns. They see the betrayals within the Church. They see the attacks from without. They see the forces lined up against the gospel. They even see their own capacity for sin. Yet although they see all these things, nothing can take their eyes off of the face of Jesus Christ. These are the ones who, "with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3: 18).
These are the witnesses.
In other words, when we read the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about a time when the work of the Holy Spirit seemed to be made manifest in some pretty remarkable and bold ways. One might wonder what has happened since then. Why do we not seem to hear about such things now? Is the Holy Spirit still at work in the Church?