Pentecost Sunday, 2012
Fr. Anthony Brankin
(Full text of sermon) Today of course is the Feast of Pentecost. Now Pentecost means the fiftieth day. This day was originally a Jewish feast that celebrated the day that God gave the people of Israel the Ten Commandments. And that took place fifty days after the Exodus.
How beautifully it all comes together. Fifty days after God saves the Chosen people—from the Pharaoh—from the Angel of Death—from unending slavery—from ceaseless bondage—from sin and misery—He gives them His law—by which they are to order their lives and structure their society.
They receive the law which defines them as a nation—which sets them up as a special people who will live their lives in accord with that law and therefore in a manner that will show to the world that they are in some sense are worthy of God’s love.
A God like we have
Oh and how proud they were of their Law. They used to say, “No people has a God like we have. No people has a Law like we have”. And they were right.
If there were any ancient people who had a law—it was simply a code of law—a code of conduct—a body of rules and regulations for the smooth running of their society. Don’t do this—don’t do that. Pay this, pay that. Not much more. How to tax, who to tax and what the government will do if someone cheats you or kills you.
But the Chosen people had a real Law—a means by which they could structure not only their society but their lives. This law was simple and direct and deep.
It was summarized by Christ Himself as the command to love God and then your neighbor. Simply put, if we understand and observe the first three commandments—by loving God, it will follow that we will be able to observe the other seven sacraments by loving our neighbor.
This was the Source of the Law that God gave His people—the love of God which issues forth into a love of neighbor. In no better way could the chosen people show how much they loved God and were thankful to Him for having saved them from the Pharaoh than by observing His Law—loving God and then loving their neighbor.
Fifty days after
So Pentecost—the celebration of the giving of the ten Commandments — was the very day the Apostles were commemorating in the Upper Room fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (I won’t say they were celebrating because they were cowering for fear of the Jews—who were not too thrilled to hear about this Risen Messiah.) And so—just as on the fiftieth day after the Passover, God gave His Chosen People the Law of love—how beautiful to realize that on the fiftieth day after the New Passover—the sacrifice of the Lamb of God and His life giving Resurrection—God gives the Church the actual means by which the Church can live the law faithfully and fearlessly. He gives the Church the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, whose name is Love. The Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son and is the Link in Love between the Father and the Son is now given to us. We can observe the Law of Love now, because the Love of God lives within us. I love to think about these things this way—because you realize you cannot make them up—only God can plan it this way—which gives it all the ring of truth. You see how God draws it all together: the Old Testament—the New Testament—the Passover—the Sacrifice of Jesus—the Ten Commandments—the Law of Love and the Holy Spirit.
Cowering fishermen
And so a band of cowering fishermen and tax collectors is transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into preachers, missionaries, converters, apologists, who charge out into the world—out into the market place—to turn it to Christ. They explode upon the scene and with a Spirit that can only come from God. This Pentecost Sunday they begin a many thousand year campaign to bring the whole, unknowing, unbelieving, misbehaving world to a knowledge of the Law of Christ which is the Law of love.
And so if the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven was how we realized we needed a Church—Pentecost tells us how that Church will be. The Church will be His presence and voice in the world and it will be fearless and relentless and furious. It will be fueled by the Fire of the Holy Spirit. It will be heard and understood in every language and in every dialect and in every corner of the world—and, of course it will be resisted in every language and in every dialect and in every corner of the world.
But no earthly force of human agency—no crowd of angry objectors—no jealous king—or petty prince—no uniformed dictator—or suited president will be able to stop that voice or silence it or subdue it or even pervert it—because it is the voice of the Holy Spirit who is God. And it is God who is the living beating loving Heart of the Church and those who reject and resist and abuse that Church—they do so to their own peril.
Force Catholics
Take a look at today’s bulletin—there is a letter from the Cardinal to us about the Barack Obama’s government recent attempt to force Catholics to pay for insurance for birth control, abortion and sterilization. Which, of course, we say we will not—because we are Catholic and we say that is immoral and we will not be forced to co-operate with immoral activities.
But you will see that besides everything else that is going in this dispute between the Church and the government is that very subtly, the government is trying to define what it means to be a Catholic. In other words, the government says (by means of this mandate) that only if our schools and hospitals and missions and soup kitchens and clinics hire or help only people who are Catholic—then and only then can these institutions be considered Catholic. Conversely if we help or hire non–Catholics in any way, then we are—by governmental definition—not Catholic—and we have to comply with their laws or be penalized severely. Pardon me—but Barak Obama and Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Pelosi do not define who is and who is not a Catholic—or what activities Catholics can do or not do if they want to be considered Catholic. No one but Christ—and He King—can define who is the Church—or what God wants us to do. If Christ has asked us to take care of the poor and the sick and preach to them the Gospel as well as bind their wounds and lift their heads up—then there is no state or politician that can compromise or conflict what God has asked us to do.
Prevent the Church
It is a typical centuries’ old control strategy to try to prevent the Catholic Church from teaching and preaching the Word of God and His way of life most effectively. Actually they don’t want the Church teaching and preaching in any way for any reason. But it has always been thus.
Behind all the persecutions and campaigns, underpinning all the policies and platforms and laws and mandates—is the lying attempt to eliminate Christ as an influence in this world by trying to control His Church.
But the history of the world should tell them that the Church will not give in, and then eventually she will win.
How often even in modern times in the last centuries all the liberal secularists and atheists and masons predicted the end of the Catholic Church. It is all over they would say—nothing can bring it back. And a modern person—seeing all the struggles the Church has had to endure—would be forgiven for thinking—well, maybe they’re right—the Church is dying. It is all over.
The force behind us
But they would be underestimating the Church—and her resilience and the reason for her resilience: that the Church is of God—and the Holy Spirit is the force behind it all. And the voice of God will continue to go out to the world—no matter the strategies used against the Church. And the Church will not only survive—but thrive.
The lesson of Pentecost—fifty days after the Resurrection—is that the Word of God will not be contained or diminished or reduced—but will go out—in every language and dialect and in every corner of the world until the end of time—because it is the word of Love, the Law of love—the gift of God Himself.