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 since been interrupted. Christians continue to meet “all together in one place,” not only in Jerusalem but in many other cities throughout the world, 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.
Pentecost was decisive for the disciples because of the events that happened that day both inside and outside the upper room. 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 up to the door of the house, to see what was happening. It was immediately apparent 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 exteriorly. 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. Perhaps they remembered what Jesus had told them on Ascension day: “So stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49) and the other words: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you” (Jn 16:7). The community needed Pentecost, that is an event that shakes the heart of everyone deeply, as an earthquake. Indeed a powerful energy wrapped them and a kind of fire started devouring them in depth. Fear gave way to courage, indifference made room for compassion and closed doors were opened by warmth. It was the first Pentecost. The church started her path in the history of men and women.
The inner earthquake that had changed the hearts of the disciples could not but have had effects outside the upper room as well. The door that had been barred for fifty days “for fear of the Jews” was finally thrown open and the disciples, no more bent on themselves, no more focused on their lives, began to speak to the large crowds that had gathered. The long and detailed list, made by the author of Acts, of the peoples of all nations standing in front of that door symbolises the presence of the entire world. And as Jesus’ disciples spoke, each national group was able to understand them in their own language. They said in amazement, “We hear each of us in our own native language … we hear them speaking about God’s deed of power.” We could say that this was the second miracle of Pentecost. From that day onward the Spirit of the Lord began to overcome once seemingly insurmountable limits that strongly bind all men and women to the place, family and small context in which they have lived. The dominion of Babel on the lives of men and women was ending. The story of the tower of Babel reveals human beings focused on building a city with a tower that should reach heaven; it was the work of their hands, the boast of every builder. But as pride united them, it also immediately overcame them; they did not understand one another anymore and were scattered all over the earth (Gen 11:1-9). The old story of the dispersion caused by the Tower of Babel describes the ordinary life of peoples on earth: a life of division and fighting among themselves, of focus on what divides rather than unites, of turning on one's own interest without care for the common good.
Pentecost ended this Babel of people fighting among each other. The Holy Spirit, poured into the heart of the disciples, inaugurated a new time of communion and fraternity. This time does not start from men and women, even though they are involved, nor does it spring from their efforts, though it demands them. It is time that comes from up high, from God. The Acts say that tongues as of fire came down from heaven and rested on the head of those present: the flame of love burns all asperity and distance; the tongue of the Gospel crossed the borders that people establish and touched their hearts so that they might be moved. The miracle of communion started at Pentecost, in the upper room and in front of its door. Between the upper room and the square of the world the Church began. 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. Loneliness, 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, but also the beginning of a new world. The action of Pope Francis has ignited a new spring and a new Pentecost that crosses the entire Church. The Holy Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost, is poured out over us so that we will leave behind our smallness and our narrow-mindedness and particularism. It is urgent to communicate the Lord’s love to the world. Let us receive the gift of the “tongue” and “fire;” while we communicate the Gospel, the fire of love warms us and those to whom we communicate it.