May 19, 2010
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Breaking Open the Word By James Cavanagh May 23 Pentecost Sunday Scripture readings: • Acts 2:1-11 Overview: Unity is one of the four essential marks, or “notes,” of the Church, and a gift of the Holy Spirit. Ever since the Tower of Babel, man’s pride and lust for power has resulted in seemingly endless fragmentation of the human race and interminable conflict. In our first reading the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit, which immediately reverses the effects of Babel as the disciples speak with one voice, uniting peoples of every language and nation. Though many tongues were spoken, all heard the one Gospel in their own language. Just as God brought order out of chaos in creation, so now God restores the order broken by sin resulting in a new creation. By giving birth to the Church, the Holy Spirit restores creation and “renews the face of the earth,” a refrain echoed in this week’s Psalm. In the second reading, St. Paul addresses a community split into several factions. But the Church cannot be divided, he explains, because it is the body of Christ. The various charismatic gifts shouldn’t be a source of friction. Rather, they express the fullness of the Church’s endowments. According to the Gospel of St. John, the Holy Spirit was given on Easter Sunday. We shouldn’t, however, regard this event as an alternative to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is a gift of the Risen Christ to his Church which occurs more than once. Here, as in Acts, the Holy Spirit empowers the Church for mission. Key verse: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13). “Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “The Church is one because of her ‘soul’: ‘It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church’s unity.’ Unity is of the essence of the Church” (No. 813). Pope Benedict XVI: “The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. … The Church is ceaselessly formed and guided by the Spirit of her Lord. She is a living body, whose vitality is, precisely, the fruit of the invisible divine Spirit” (Regina Coeli, May 31, 2009). Life application: Christ founded one Church, which exists in all its fullness in the Catholic Church. Still, elements of that one Church exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church; elements which, as Vatican II taught, “impel toward catholic unity” (“Lumen Gentium,” 8). Wounded by sin, however, Christ’s body has split into thousands of sects and denominations. “Why can’t we all just get along?” Well, we know the answer, don’t we? Unity in the Church and in the human family is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which begins with the forgiveness of sin. Only God can overcome our sad divisions. Pray for the unity of the Church. James Cavanagh is director of Evangelization and Catechesis for Metro-Area Parishes of the Denver Archdiocese. To read James Cavanagh's May 30 Breaking Open the Word reflection, go to www.archden.org, then click on Offices, then Evangelization and Catechesis, then Breaking Open the Word.
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