Pentecost Sunday
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Of course, today we celebrate Pentecost—the day when the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was introduced to the world. We see in the Scriptures where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin in the form of tongues of fire. And immediately—inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit—fired up by the fuel of God’s love—the Apostles went into the streets and plazas, highways and byways and began to fearlessly preach about Christ—Him crucified and Him risen. They taught without hesitation—and at the risk of their lives.
And what they did teach was that everyone needed to believe in Jesus in order to be saved. That this outlawed crucified savior whom they killed was God— Messiah and Saviour. The preaching was that simple—that direct and that clear. And they made it urgent: If you did not want to go to hell at the end of your life—you needed to be baptized in the name of this Jesus. This was the first Catholic school, the first catechism class—this was the first RCIA program—and it didn’t take any longer than a couple hours. And thousands were converted that one afternoon. Thousands heard these words—were stung to the heart at the message, its beauty and necessity, and they turned to Jesus and were baptized.
The power of the Holy Spirit
Now I am not recommending that our Catechism consist of one hour—once a year on Sunday. But I am suggesting that what happened on Pentecost—and its success is a direct result of the fire of the Holy Spirit impelling the Apostles to go out into the streets and risk their lives preaching about Jesus to people who hated him—and as a result of that same fire of the Holy Spirit opening up the hearts of the thousands to receive that preaching in conviction and in love. And so it has been for two thousand years. The Holy Spirit has urged men and women, priests and nuns, deacons and catechists and fathers and mothers—and sometimes even by Kings and Queens to preach that Jesus is the Savior to whom everyone must turn in order to be saved.
Because of the Holy Spirit—missionaries preached about Jesus with conviction, and the people believed with devotion The Holy Spirit is as necessary to salvation as is the Crucified Saviour. After all, the Holy Spirit is God too, and there is not one member of the Trinity who acts without the involvement of the other members. And so it is the Holy Spirit who becomes the breath of the Church—the heart of the Church—the soul of the Church. The Holy Spirit creates the preachers and the listeners, the shepherds and the flock all at the same time. And it is a powerful thing. Because when we are caught up in the love of God—in the Holy Spirit, we are ready to die for this Gospel that we have heard.
Actually—the Holy Spirit is preparing us to die for Jesus—who died for us. That is how powerful it is. This is not about a syllogism or a proof text. This is about persons—Jesus and us. And it is about love— love unto death for that person. And we see this dynamic of the Holy Spirit being the breath of the Church played out in the history of the persecutions and the martyrdoms—that continue in every country and in every age. For example, we recently celebrated the feast of St. Christopher Magallanes and twenty six other priests and lay people of Mexico who were killed in the Cristero uprising of the last Century. All the Mexican people wanted to do was to live as Catholics. They could endure a government as long as they could have Christ as their king. But their government full of atheists and masons and socialists and anarchists—all of whom hated the church and Jesus and God, said —“No. No more baptisms—no more priests—no more Masses—no more weddings—no more Quiceanearas—no more Jesus!”
Mexican people rose up against these persecutors of Christ and said, “No more.” And the war was on. Sixty thousand Mexican Catholics died for Christ the King. Men like Toribio Romo whom they shot in the back and Padre Pro whom they shot in the front and Jose Luis Sanchez whose body they kicked into the hole they made him dig. And who gave them the strength to resist and to die? The Holy Spirit. They did not die for a statement or a piece of paper. They died for love of Jesus, and it was the Holy Spirit who gave them the strength.That’s how it always is. This is what is happening right now—even as we speak in Iraq and Syria—Nigeria and Pakistan. The Muslims are sweeping from one town to the next—the swords in hand—and they are beheading and crucifying and enslaving all the Christian populations before them.
Courage is not automatic
How do those Christians stand firm in the face of such terror? Courage is not automatic. You can pretend you have the faith, but unless you let the Holy Spirit work in you—by prayer, sacrament and sacrifice—You will run away or submit. I saw a few weeks ago that the Archbishop of Baghdad told any of his priests who had left the country to go to the United States for safety—that unless they came back to Iraq and be prepared to die alongside their flock—they would be suspended from the priesthood. He would not allow them to abandon their flock. He would not allow them to block the movement of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. They need to go back and die with their people and for their people.
Of course martyrdom is not easy, but the Holy Spirit makes it possible—and if we are the Church—we must accept the grace of the Holy Spirit who wraps us in the mantle of God’s love—and because of the Holy Spirit, we can be confident that though they would kill us— the God of Life will save us. That’s how the Cristeros did it. That’s how the Irish did it—and the Poles and the French and Spanish. That’s how the Romans did it. That’s how the Catholics and Christians in Syria and Iraq have done it—being faithful unto death means they trusted in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now we who live in the United States—and who are now ruled almost universally by little bands of masons and atheists and rich capitalists in league with the media and the international financiers are about to be put to the same test. But it will take a different twist than the tests have historically been given. No—this test won’t be some Roman official asking us to burn incense before the Emperor. This wont be some semi-intellectual bureaucrat asking us to deny Jesus or the Virgin Birth or the Church or the pope or Transubstantiation. You see, the new crowd of anti-Christs doesn’t really care if we believe in Three persons in One God—They don’t care if we believe in Holy water and rosaries—“Knock yourself out!” “Go for it!”
But they do care if we teach anything that contradicts what the government teaches—about how we live our lives. They do care if we say that marriage is between a man and a woman and for life and for children. They do care if they say that abortion is wrong or that transgender is unhealthy. They do not want the moral implications of our Catholic faith to get past that door. They do not want the teachings of this Catholic Church to be discussed in the public square let alone encouraged. And they are planning to arrest us and fine us—and cripple us if we should at all show resistance to them about any of these issues— particularly now—it seems to be revolving around gender and gay marriage.
It is clear—that if we are going to remain Catholic and free and faithful to Jesus, we are going to need the Holy Spirit. We are going to need His grace—his inspiration—his fire. Sure that will mean our persecution. We might start losing our jobs and our businesses. We will be shamed in public— and maybe even our children—God forbid—so propagandized by the culture and the media—maybe they will turn us in for being a danger to society. And some of us may die. (Why should the Cristeros of Mexico or the Christians of Iraq be the only ones who can win the palm of martyrdom?) But if we hold out to the end—and invoke the Holy Spirit and call down His fire into our souls—we can survive— maybe not this life—but certainly the next—and that is what this was all about anyway.