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Sunday of Pentecost
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Sunday of Pentecost

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Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday of Pentecost

Homily

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1). Fifty days had passed since Easter and one hundred and twenty of Jesus’ followers (the Twelve, a group of disciples, Mary, and the other women) were gathered together, as was by now their custom, in the upper room. Since Easter, in fact, they had never failed to gather for prayer, to listen to Scripture, and to live in the spirit of fraternity. They established an apostolic tradition that has never been interrupted since. Not only in Jerusalem but in many other cities throughout the world, Christians continue to meet "all together in one place" to listen to the Word of God, to nourish themselves with the bread of life and to continue to live together in the memory of the Lord.
The day of Pentecost was decisive for the disciples because of the events that happened both inside and outside the upper room that day. The Acts of the Apostles narrate that, during the afternoon, "suddenly from heaven came a sound like the rush of a violent wind" that blew over the house where the disciples were staying. The disturbance of the wind was like an earthquake felt throughout all of Jerusalem; it was so great that many people rushed to the epicentre, right in front of the door of the house, to see what was happening. It was immediately apparent to them that this was not a normal earthquake, for there had been a great commotion, but not a single building had fallen down. From the outside of the house, however, nobody could see that there was something inside that had shaken. Inside the upper room the disciples experienced a very real earthquake that, even though it was interior in nature, visibly affected them and their surroundings. They saw that "tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages." It was for all of them—the apostles, disciples and the women—a profound, life-changing experience.
The inner earthquake that had changed their hearts, also had external effects. The door that had been barred was thrown open and the disciples began to speak to the crowds who had gathered in front of it. The long and detailed list of all the peoples present signifies the presence of the entire world standing in front of that door: there are all people. And while Jesus’ disciples were speaking, they were all able to understand them in their own language. They said in amazement: "We hear each of us in our own native language proclaiming the great things God did." From that day onward the Spirit of the Lord began to overcome limits that once seemed insurmountable. Pentecost ended the dominion of Babel. The Holy Spirit inaugurated a new time, the time of communion and fraternity. It is in Jerusalem, between the upper room and the square, that the Church begins. The disciples, full of the Holy Spirit, overcame their fear and began to preach. Jesus had said: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth" (Jn 16:13).
The Spirit arrived and since that day He has never stopped guiding the disciples along the paths of the world. Solitude, confusion and incomprehension, the plight of orphans and fratricidal violence are all no longer the inevitable fate of humanity, because the Spirit has come to "renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30). In the Letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul exhorts the believers to walk, "by the Spirit...and [not to] gratify the desires of the flesh... the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these" (Gal 5:16-21). And he adds: "By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal 5:22). The entire world needs fruit like this. Pentecost is the beginning of the Church. The Holy Spirit is poured out over us so that we will leave behind our smallness and our narrow-mindedness to give witness to the love of the Lord and announce his Gospel to all creatures to the ends of the earth.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
 The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR