From the upper room of fear to the expanses of the world
Today is the last Sunday in this period, when the Holy Spirit descends. On this Sunday we see three things: the first is the transformation of the disciples into apostles; the second is that the apostles spoke in a language everyone understood; the third is that every nation heard in its own language what the apostles spoke of the mighty works of God.
Our journey began on the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It began with our desire to be discipled by Jesus and to pass through those sufferings with Him and in Him. Today Jesus returns us to the world, to set out to the people, to our communities, to speak of the mighty works of God, to speak of what we have experienced with Jesus and what we have learned, to tell everyone about the radiant face of Jesus.
When Jesus ascended last Thursday, we became orphans, not knowing what to do or where to go. We ask ourselves: what now? Many people wait, in the face of this question, for a heavenly call to send them to preach or to work in the Lord’s field. When some are asked, “Why do you not become a priest, for example?” they answer, “God has not called me,” believing that God will send an angel to call him to the priesthood or to monasticism or to preach in His name and set out as a herald. This, unfortunately, is a mistake. The call to witness and to evangelism is not the monopoly of anyone, and it does not require waiting for an angel to call us.
The concept of the call does not lie in an external voice, but in an inner movement driven by a holy desire and an overwhelming longing for Christ. We are not faced with a commission that comes to us by letter or email, but with the mystery of fullness. And just as the spring does not need anyone’s call to overflow, but flows by the force of the fullness dwelling in its depths, so the believer who is filled with the presence of God does not wait for a call seeking him from without, but sets out driven by the flood of grace erupting in his heart.
The disciples were hiding in the upper room, not knowing what to do, but when the Holy Spirit descended, they became apostles and began to speak. The outpouring of the Spirit upon them, and its eruption within them, made them realize that their time had come to set out into the world and tell the nations about Jesus the Teacher. The disciple does not need a call to become an apostle; setting out and working come about because of an inner flood resulting from being filled with Christ.
On the other hand, some believe that preaching the mighty works of God means only becoming a priest or a monk. The Christian calling is not only this; rather, it is to defend human rights, to contribute to a better life, to help in fighting poverty and injustice, and to work for justice, the law, and the environment — to work for a better world. Evangelism is to make the values of Jesus present in the world.
The second matter: fear vanished. When the Holy Spirit erupted within them, the apostles did not fear to set out into the world, nor did they think, “Will the other peoples understand us — Arabs, Medes, and Elamites?” Rather, they rose and did what they could. They spoke, and the Spirit completed their work, and the rest of the people understood what they were saying despite their language being different. Fear makes us stop doing the work of Jesus, and we make excuses: we cannot, it is impossible. But all we have to do is offer what we can and leave the rest to God. Let us say to God: O Lord, this is all I have, and You bless. The important thing is that we set out.
The third matter: the peoples understood what the apostles said, about the mighty works of God. Each of us fears: how will the other understand me? Language has never been the obstacle, for here are those who speak one language and share one background fighting among themselves, with a thousand walls and obstacles between them. The language we must speak with the other, in these lands, is the language of Jesus: embrace, smile, consolation, and friendship. All these things are a language more important than a thousand shared alphabets. Today we ask: how do we speak with others in our parish? Do we console the sick? Comfort the grieving? Support the needy? Some think that speaking of the mighty works of God means talking about how He saved us and how He performed miracles, and so on. But speaking of the mighty works of God means that you make me see God in your deeds. When people saw Jesus, God was glorified when He did something, showing His embrace of the suffering person.
The descent of the Holy Spirit today transforms us from disciples into apostles, and releases us into this society. It releases us to speak of the mighty works of God with us, releases us to do the work of God in the world and to work for its salvation, and releases us to draw others to His church here in this blessed parish. You are now people in a sailing ship, and you must draw people here to be with you. Embrace strangers, draw near to everyone, help the weak among you, and neglect no one. The descent of the Spirit means that you give to others what Jesus gave you, and say to the people what Philip, the patron of our parish, said to him, on the first Sunday of Lent: “Come and see.” (Jn 1:46).