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Today is the Birthday of the Catholic Church…!
Every one of us has a birthday and so has the Catholic Church! The Birthday of the Holy Mother Church falls today with the Solemnity of the Pentecost.We Catholics believe in a ‘Trinitarian God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’. The Holy Spirit is understood as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity whose function is to renew and strengthen us in our Journey of Faith.
Pentecost, meaning 50th day in Greek, is celebrated by Christians 50 days after the celebration of Easter, and marks the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles while they were cowering and hiding behind locked doors together with Mother Mary following Jesus’ Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection. After receiving the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles immediately went out and started preaching Jesus’ message to all and sundry – even to those who spoke other languages by making use of the precious gift of tongues!
Pentecost instituted the ‘Age of the Church’, during which Jesus Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates His work of Salvation through His Church, ‘until He Comes again in Glory’.
The Holy Spirit Renews the Church
All true and authentic renewal – renewal in Jesus Christ – is simply a demonstration of the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore as followers of Christ, we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and discern the work of the Spirit. This is, always has been, and always will be, the only hope for the growth of the Church making the world a better place. The Church, rightly conceived, exists as a community of believers bound together in the power, presence, and promptings of the Holy Spirit Whose Gifts and Fruits are shared with all humanity.
The Holy Spirit Strengthens the Church
This strengthening of the Church by the Holy Spirit takes place in three basic ways.
First of all, the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our relationship to Jesus Christ.
We already know that the goal of the work of the Holy Spirit is to make us more like Jesus Christ. But how does He do this? It is through a process known as sanctification – making us worthy human beings.
Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit stripping away our sinful habits and bringing us into holiness.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our capacity to defend our faith.
The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The power that the Holy Spirit gives us in this regard is something that reflects in the natural as well as in the supernatural realm. He gives us power, love and self-discipline to stand against all evil.
Thirdly, the strengthening is also in our capacity to spread our faith
. When the love and mercy of Jesus Christ is shared in word and deed throughout the world, it carries out God’s purpose and plan to redeem and restore this fallen and wounded world of ours!
A New Pentecost is What the World Needs Today!
In today’s context of the world, the desire to share the ‘Good News of Love’ should, more than ever before, have a special place in the hearts of all lovers of mankind. The concern to bring others to freedom and salvation should take hold of them and they should step out in bold humanitarian venturesinto this bruised and battered world of ours as messengers of peace. As a result of a revival and renewal, the time has come to boldly proclaim the ‘Message of Peace and Love’, and thereby heal the world with the experience of a ‘New Pentecost’.
We all must, irrespective of religion, take up this present challenge and move forward towards the future with goodwill, hope and perseverance against all the powers of evil and darkness that spread their tentacles all throughout the world in different forms!
Rev. Fr. (Dr.)Eymard Fernando
Catholic Bishop’s House,
Kurunegala.