Before the Second Vatican Council began, Pope Saint John XXIII asked the Church to pray for a “new Pentecost.” Many people in the Church believe that those prayers are now being answered. But what is a new Pentecost?
Tapping into the Church’s Power of Regeneration
Let’s consider an example. Bob and Cheryl had been married for 45 years, and their relationship had become somewhat stale. After so much time together, they’d begun to take one another for granted, and had slowly slipped into a relationship of convenience rather than the deep love that they’d vowed to one another on their wedding day. One day, they were shaken out of their complacency when their eldest child observed, “I hope my marriage doesn’t look like yours in 20 years. You seem more like roommates than lovers.” At last they recognized that they weren’t living up to the calling they’d received from God, and signed up for a Catholic marriage retreat to help them reignite their love.
A “new Pentecost” is a lot like a marriage retreat. Just as a married couple can have the flame of their love reignited after neglect, so too is God now reigniting the fire of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Pope Benedict XVI wrote a book called Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief. In it, he says that even though there are often periods of decline in the Church, the Church always carries within herself the “powers of regeneration,” because the Holy Spirit is always present as the very life and soul of the Church.[1] A new Pentecost, then, would be about tapping into those powers of regeneration so that the Church can once more, with great fruitfulness, preach salvation to modern man.
The great news is that we can all participate in the new Pentecost. Jesus is now calling the Church to renew our commitment to the mission to make disciples of all nations. At the same time, in answer to the prayer of Saint John XXIII, He is providing us with a renewed connection to the only power-source by which the mission can be accomplished. That power-source is the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is already present in the hearts of each of us because of our baptism and confirmation. As someone has said, “the seeds for revival are planted within every baptized heart.” We draw upon the power of Pentecost when we stir up the grace of the sacrament within us.
Renewed from Within by the Spirit
Pope Benedict XVI has spoken along these lines. Standing before a gathering of young people, he encouraged them to “test the quality of your faith in the Holy Spirit,” and to “rediscover it if it is lost, strengthen it if it has become weak, savour it as fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, brought about by the indispensable working of the Holy Spirit.”[2] If we do this, we can experience in power the blessings of Pentecost, when “the Holy Spirit renewed the Apostles from within, filling them with a power that would give them courage to go out and boldly proclaim that ‘Christ has died and is risen!’ Freed from all fear, they began to speak openly with self-confidence.”[3]
Ask, then, for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God says in His Word that He will give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks Him (see Lk 11:13). Ask again and again, and then act on His inspirations. As we grow in the Holy Spirit, there will be signs that He is working stronger in our life: we will have (1) a renewed conviction of the Lordship of Christ, (2) a deeper understanding and experience of the Father’s love, (3) the scriptures more often “coming alive” for us when we read them, and (4) we have a heart for the Lord’s lost sheep, that they might be found. We will also have greater holiness, as well as greater courage, boldness, and confidence in proclaiming the gospel.
[1] Joseph Ratzinger, Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief (San Francisca: Ignatius Press, 2006), 84.
[2] Benedict XVI, “Message to the Young People of the World on the Occasion of the XXIII World Youth Day,” sec. 1.
[3] Ibid., sec. 3.