Do We Really Want a New Pentecost?

May 19, 2021

Fr. John Riccardo

At weekday Mass earlier this week, we heard how Paul made his way from Corinth to the fledgling community of believers in Ephesus—there were all of 12 Christians there. We can be certain that in the course of his conversations with the small band of disciples many things were discussed. But the only thing Luke was inspired to record was a question Paul asked them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

 That’s worth pondering. Of all the many things they talked about, for some reason, that question is what is recorded. Why? We don’t know the answer, of course, and I doubt there is only one answer, but as we draw near to the Solemnity of Pentecost this Sunday, we would suggest this is worth praying about. 

Somehow, or so it seems, from what Paul saw and heard, this was the operative question to ask. In other words, the Christians were talking and acting as though they had not received the Holy Spirit. After telling Paul they’ve never even heard there is a Holy Spirit, the disciples are baptized, Paul lays his hands on them, and they begin to speak in tongues and prophesy. 

Not too long ago, we were in a gathering of priests and posed a series of questions to them.

When was the last time I heard the Holy Spirit directing me in some way? When was the last time I started something at the parish at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Am I comfortable giving the agenda to Him, really? Am I willing to leave the familiar behind? Many of the brothers acknowledged these were difficult questions to hear, let alone answer. Somehow, these kinds of questions seem from another world for many of us in the Church—even though we read about it day after day in Mass. 

Is there a possible connection between the community of believers in Ephesus and us today? Of course, if we’ve been baptized, we have received the Holy Spirit. And yet, how often do we operate in our daily ministry, or pastoral planning, as though the Spirit is not there? How often do we make plans—especially in the Church—based on what the Spirit says to us? How often do we live as though the Holy Spirit is just a theological reality, we studied but have little day to day contact with?

We frequently read in The Acts of the Apostles some derivation of “The Spirit said to…” This is true with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, Ananias and Saul, Peter and Cornelius, and other all too familiar stories of the early Church. What can seem so utterly foreign to us—the Spirit speaking and guiding us—was a commonplace and expected event in the life of the early Church. They depended on His guidance, or else they wouldn’t know what the work was. How often do we simply utter a prayer at the start of our meetings and then proceed as though the Spirit isn’t real, isn’t wanting to guide us, isn’t wanting to make known to us what the plan—His plan—is?

Just before He ascended, Jesus instructed the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high,” received “the promise of the Father” and were “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5).

And, suddenly, this cowardly band of motley men and women were radically transformed (i.e., at their core) into courageous heroes who were passionately in love with the Father, deeply in love with their neighbor, and utterly convinced that Jesus was Lord and He had not only conquered the dark powers but had sent them, unlikely and unworthy as they were, to continue His mission of rescuing those in the grip of Sin and Death.

Of course, this is incredibly risky, it takes discernment to know the Spirit’s voice, and we have to relinquish control. But control is an illusion anyway! We frequently hear leaders in the Church encourage us to pray for “a new Pentecost,” and rightly so. But it’s worth remembering that if God answers this prayer, it will mean business as usual is over, and the initiative will be entirely restored to Him. This doesn’t mean life will be confusing and chaotic, for God is not God of disorder. But it will mean having to relearn how to do…well, most everything. But how dull it is to rely on our own creativity and wisdom and insights, and how utterly exhilarating to trust in God’s power and wisdom. 

The sine qua non to living and leading in an apostolic age is relying on the power and direction of the Holy Spirit in the same way the apostles did after Pentecost. As we approach the Solemnity, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to give us the experience of a new Pentecost, so as to hear Him as never before for this age He has chosen for us to live in.