The Spirit is Ever Ancient and Ever New
“’Peace be with you. … And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
This picture I painted when I was in fourth grade. My theological perspective at the time, as my artistic talent, was limited. In the picture, Jesus is at the Right hand of God. His arms, unlike the Father’s, form a bridge between Heaven and Earth. Virgin Mary contemplates the action of the Father and the Son from a distance. The rays of light comming down upon the world are a sign of God’s Holy Spirit raining grace upon the whole world. Well, that was my world. And it was not perfect. The Holy Spirit comes not only from the Father, but from the Father AND the Son.
Upon taking possession of the Chair of St. Peter, as Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI gave a wonderful reflection on the meaning of that First Pentecost and its implication for those called by the Lord to serve him in the Church. As we can read, his reflection Centers on Christ: the Spirit of the Lord springs from the Love of Christ for those whom the Father had given him. The coming of the Holy Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost is a continuation of the Ministry of Jesus. Moreover, Pentecost is the coming of the Lord Jesus himself to continue his ministry of giving himself out of love for us.
“As the living Word of God, Jesus told his disciples everything, and God can give no more than himself. In Jesus, God gave us his whole self, that is, he gave us everything. As well as or together with this, there can be no other revelation which can communicate more or in some way complete the Revelation of Christ.”
“In him, in the Son, all has been said to us, all has been given.” …“But our understanding is limited: Thus, the Spirit’s mission is to introduce the Church, in an ever new way from generation to generation, into the greatness of Christ’s mystery. The Spirit places nothing different or new beside Christ; no pneumatic revelation comes with the revelation of Christ - as some say -, no second level of Revelation.”
In this way the Holy Father addresses the issue of those who use Pentecost as a sort of excuse of a new revelation, brought to us to fulfill what the Spirit of history in the Church has been unable to fulfill. Even in St. Helen, my parish in Eloy, which would be considered a “small” community, the awaiting for a new Pentecost gives raise to a search in people for a different ecclesial community: one that would have the new spirit. This spirithas led some to leave the church. To make things a little more complex, there are some, who remain, to convert the old spirited church into the new spiritual reality the world demands from God.
This mindset, is, after all, a gross misrepresentation of what the role of the Holy Spirit is in the Church. The Spirit of Pentecost is the same Spirit that comes from the Father and the Son. To expect a new Pentecost is to expect a new Spirit.
Jesus, in the Gospel of John, had already say that the Spirit of Truth “will have received from me…” (Jn 16: 14). “And as Christ says only what he hears and receives from the Father. Thus the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of Christ.”
“He will have received from me”.
Pope Benedict continues saying that the Holy Spirit
“does not lead us to other places, far from Christ, but takes us further and further into Christ’s light. Consequently, Christian Revelation is both ever old and new. Thus, all things are and always have been given to us. At the same time, every generation, in the inexhaustible encounter with the Lord - an encounter mediated by the Holy Spirit - always learns something new. “
“The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the power through which Christ causes us to experience his closeness.”
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”
“The Risen Christ needs witnesses who have met him, people who have known him intimately through the power of the Holy Spirit; those who have, so to speak, actually touched him, can witness to him. It is through witnesses that the Church was built - starting with Peter and Paul and the Twelve, to the point of including all who, filled with Christ, have rekindled down the centuries and will rekindle the flame of faith in a way that is ever new. All Christians in their own way can and must be witnesses of the Risen Lord.”
“Witnesses—Saints, through the Holy Spirit, reveal to us more deeply the Mystery of Christ. But this chorus of witnesses is also endowed with a clearly defined structure: The successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, who are publicly responsible for ensuring that the network of these witnesses survives. The power and grace required for this service are conferred upon Bishops through the sacrament of Episcopal Ordination. In this network of witnesses, the Successor of Peter has a special task.”
“It was Peter who, on the Apostles’ behalf, made the first profession of faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16: 16).”
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”
The Church is rightly called Teacher (Magistra). This ability, or power, of the Church to teach the Word of God is, at times, not well received by many who consider Christianity as a religion of the ignorant and naïve. For that reason, the Holy Father believes that,
“This power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought.
It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.
I believe the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and that such Spirit is ever ancient and ever new. The search for a new spirit is a projection of those who, for whatever reason, remain at the threshold of conversion, requesting a new sign from the Lord to earn his trust.
I think those who continue their search for the new spirit are afraid of realizing and accepting the challenges the Holy Spirit, in Christ Jesus, has already presented to them. In other words, the Holy Spirit has given them what Christ promised, i.e. A Cross. But they have a hard time accepting that Cross and search frantically for a new cross.
We pray the Spirit of Pentecost will strip the spirit of fear from their hearts, so that the Spirit of God, dwelling in them, is united once again to the Spirit of Truth that animates the Church of Christ, making them True Pentecostal Disciples of Christ as they promote the life of grace and the sacraments.
Fr. J.C.