The Pontifical North American College

Solemnity of Pentecost

“We hear them speaking of the mighty acts of God.”

June 9, 2019

We just heard in the reading from The Acts of the Apostles, at the very end of the reading—devout Jews from every nation under heaven saying: We hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

I have a confession to make:—I absolutely love Pentecost.

For over 40 years now, I have included the Sequence for Pentecost as part of my thanksgiving every day after Mass.

I love Pentecost because I love and I am indescribably grateful for the mighty acts of God. I give thanks for them with a gratitude that is beyond words, and I can never even begin to fathom the depths of them.

The mighty acts of God—or as they are known in theology, the magnalia Dei—the marvelous works of God continue to astound all who bear the name of Christian.

Sometimes Pentecost is quite unfairly depicted as the feast of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity—as if we needed a feast for the Father, a feast for the Son, and a feast of the Holy Spirit—it is hardly that.

Just as we do not have a feast of God the Father, nor could we point to a specific feast that we would call the feast of the Son, neither do we have a feast of the Holy Spirit. If you are already a divine person, you do not worry a whole lot about having your own feast.  What we celebrate today is not the Holy Spirit, but the sending of the Spirit in light of the marvelous works of God in the context of the whole of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.

What is not important is that people heard the disciples speaking different languages—what is important is that the confusion at the tower of Babel and the dispersion of peoples that it caused—is overcome and that peoples of every land and every tongue hear of the marvelous works of God.

When the sacred liturgy was renewed after the Second Vatican Council, the octave of Pentecost was suppressed—because Pentecost is the conclusion of something—the celebration of the mysteries of the mission of the Son—and nothing less than the capstone of the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.

What does it mean for the days of Pentecost to be fulfilled—dum complerentur dies Pentecostes?

Pentecost is the fulfillment of the whole of the Paschal Mystery of Christ—moving through the Annunciation to the Sending of the Spirit—or as we will pray in a few minutes in the Preface of Pentecost: For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son.

For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son:

The marvelous works of God mean nothing less than the re-creation of the whole world—that re-creation—for our salvation—which was begun at the Annunciation—and carried through to the Ascension and the sending of the Spirit.

To recall just some of the magnalia Dei of divine redemption in the Paschal Mystery that we celebrate as a Church today, we commemorate:

  • The marvelous works of God at the Annunciation—when for the sake of our salvation the Divine Word took upon himself our human nature, so in need of redemption—we read:
    • The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin whose name was Mary—hail full of grace—you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.
  • And the marvelous works of God at Christmas—exactly nine months later when the Son of God who is also the Son of Mary is born for us—we read:
    • She gave birth to her firstborn son—and the angel appeared to the shepherds saying: “Do not be afraid; I proclaim to you good news of great joy—a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.
  • And the marvelous works of God at the Epiphany as the Lord is revealed as the light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel—we read:
    • You shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow—and the Magi were overjoyed at seeing the star—and they prostrated themselves, did him homage, opened their treasures, and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
  • And the marvelous works of God at the Baptism of the Lord at the beginning of his public ministry—we read:
    • After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him—as a voice sounded from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
  • And the marvelous works of God on Palm Sunday—we read:
    • They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
  • And the marvelous works of God on Holy Thursday when Christ washed the apostles’ feet and said:
    • “Do you realize what I have done for you—if I, therefore, the master and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.”
  • And the marvelous works of God on Good Friday—we read:
    • Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.
  • And the marvelous works of God on Holy Saturday, as we hear in the Office of Readings—Christ saying to Adam as he and his descendants are held in the prison of the underworld:
    • Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven—I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God—the bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready—the kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
  • And the marvelous works of God on Easter Sunday—we read:
    • They found the stone rolled away from the tomb—they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus—they sought the living one among the dead.
  • And the marvelous works of God throughout the Easter Season when:
    • The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
    • And our hearts burned within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us.
    • And when Jesus tells Mary Magdalen not to cling to him—because he has to be free to go to the Father and send the Spirit upon us.
    • And when He says that if we loved him, we would rejoice to have him go to the Father.
    • And where he tells the apostles that it is better for them if he goes, because if he does not go, the Advocate will not come to them.
  • And the marvelous works of God at the Ascension—when we read:
    • Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Today, on the feast of Pentecost, we meet again the marvelous works of God when, in the final act of the Paschal Mystery, the Spirit—the Consoler and the Advocate is sent from the Father.

In baptism we have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba—Father—and God dwells in us as truly as he dwells in the tabernacle—Head and Members are one in the Mystical Body—Christ is the vine and we are united to him as the branches—and we are pruned—that we might bear fruit in plenty. We have become sharers in the divine nature, and, by grace, divine blood courses through our very bodies.

God never rations the gift of the Spirit—and for us—because of the great Paschal Mystery—life is not transformed but transfigured. The Father speaks, and we hear: “You are my beloved son/you are my beloved daughter,” and today new wine is poured into new wineskins—because as St. John says: We have come to know and to believe in the love that God has for us. God is love.

And as one of the Entrance Antiphons for today says: The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia. And as we will sing again and again today in the Communion Antiphon: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke of the marvels of God, alleluia.

We have heard and we celebrate the mighty acts of God—they animate every fiber of our being—and like the devout Jews gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost, we can only be astounded and amazed—and grateful beyond words—at the mighty acts of God—all that God in his mercy has done for us.

Glory be to him now and forever. Amen.