A New Pentecost; Tradition and Prophecy

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author. 

“Come, Holy Spirit come.” That’s from the great sequence that traditional. It’s called the Pentecost sequence, the traditional Latin hymn that we’ll be hearing sung in Latin during the offertory, Veni, Sancte Spiritus. But why are we asking the Holy Spirit to come? Isn’t it already here? St. Thomas Aquinas says that whenever a divine person begins to exist in a new way someplace, we can speak of them coming. For instance, say, Jesus says that He is present wherever two or more are gathered in His name. But when we can speak of Him coming in the Holy Eucharist, not because He wasn’t already present, but because He becomes present in a new way. And so when we pray, Come, Holy Spirit, we’re asking for a new Pentecost, a great new Pentecost. Many popes and saints and mystics have spoken of a new Pentecost. And I think that’s to understand what the Lord is preparing now in our world; He is preparing a great new Pentecost. So this is something that we I think ourselves are especially called to prepare, a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, for a great renewal. As the Psalm says, “to renew the face of the whole earth, to transform our world.” And so that’s the first point I want to focus on today, the preparation for a new Pentecost. But I also want to highlight something because there’s two aspects which are often opposed – the traditional and the prophetic. But both of those are necessary. They’re complementary in the Holy Spirit. What is prophetic, if it is not rooted in the authentic tradition of the Church can lose its anchor and become unmoored and begin to deviate, become false. And what is traditional, if it’s not open to the Holy Spirit’s prophetic action, can become closed to what God is doing precisely right now, today. And we see this in the reading we heard from Jesus words in the Gospel, “when He comes, the Spirit of TRUTH, He will guide you to ALL TRUTH.” So that’s the Holy Spirits continuing role in the Church, guiding into ALL TRUTH. “He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming,” declare to you the things that are coming. “He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” So the Holy Spirit continues His work in the Church, but He’s never contradicting Jesus. On the contrary, He’s always taking from what is of Jesus. So we see those two aspects of traditional and prophetic that are both aspects of the Holy Spirit’s action. And so I apologize because my homies right now, during this time, a little bit longer, we probably should issue pillows, as you come in. So you could catch a few winks during the homily, but it’s because this time that we’re living is very confusing, very confusing. So many ideas. And I know that with what our mission has had to do, that it’s also, people feel, that we’re adding to the confusion. Because this is a very difficult time that we’re living. And so I think, and our little mission finds itself in a critical role, this tiny, poor little mission. And so I think sometimes we need to take a little bit more time to try to deepen these important topics. So this great sequence that as I said, we’ll be hearing chanted in Latin, but it shows us these two aspects of both tradition and – it’s a very ancient hymn that that Sung every Pentecost but also sung outside of Pentecost. But it’s also prophetic. And I think we can understand it as a prophetic words for our time right now. It’s a call for the Holy Spirit to come. “Come Holy Spirit, come, and from your celestial home, shed a ray of light divine. Come, father of the poor, comes source of all our store, come within our bosoms shine.”  So it’s calling for Him to come and calling for Him to come console us.  Does anyone here need consolation?  A lot of us here need consolation.  And it says, “You the comforters, the best,” no one can comfort like He can.  “you the souls most welcome guests sweet refreshment here below, in our labor, rest, most sweet, grateful coolness in the heat, and the heat, soulless in the midst of all.” So He is the great consoler, the comforter, and He is also the light, the light that illuminates our consciences in this time of so much darkness and confusion, “Oh most blessed, light divine, shine within these hearts of yours and in our inmost being filled, where you are not, we have not, nothing good indeed or thought nothing free from pain or ill.” So He is this great light, who brings about transformation. “Heal our wounds, our strength renew, on our dryness, pour your dew; wash the stains of guilt away. guide the steps that go astray.” So as I say, this is like prophetic words for this great new Pentecost that we need. And so I want to look with you at some ways in these recent decades, in this terrible crisis, that humanity and the Church have been living in recent decades, how we can still see signs of the Holy Spirit, preparing a new Pentecost. So let’s go back to the 60s, which was like a crucial decade. And I was born in 1960. So that wasn’t my fault, right. But that was the time I was living. And so the 1960s was a time, especially in our western society, of a great cultural break, like a revolution. And in the Church, it was the time of the Second Vatican Council. So one thing we have to distinguish, because that’s a controversial topic, we have to distinguish between what the council actually said, and the way it was often interpreted and misinterpreted and implemented and mis implemented. So those are two different things. But the Council was often interpreted as a break from the past, a break from the tradition of the Church. Pope John Paul the 23rd in 1962, who was in preparation for this council, prayed, famously prayed to God, “renew your wonders in our day, as by a new Pentecost,” a new Pentecost. And some people saw a sign of this new Pentecost in 1967. So just a few years after the council, when the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church began, and began in the United States at Duquesne University, in Pennsylvania as a surprising initiative of the Lord. And many Pope’s have spoken of this as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pope Saint John Paul the second in 1979, speaking to leaders of the Charismatic Renewal said, “I am convinced that this movement is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s action.” And Pope Benedict the 16th, speaking in 2008 to the charismatic leaders of the charismatic covenant communities. And this is a little bit longer quote, but I think very important. He said, “what we learned in the New Testament about charism’s, which appeared as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Charisms, visible signs,” he says, “of the coming of the Holy Spirit is not a historical event of the past, but a reality ever alive. Not just something that happened a long time ago, but something that is ever alive.” He says, “It is the same divine spirit, soul of the church that acts in every age, and those mysterious and effective interventions of the spirit.” Interventions of the Spirit are manifest in our time in a providential way. These manifestations are the Spirit, he says are happening now in our time. And he says, “the movements and new communities.” And I think our little, I hope, our little community of the Mission of Divine Mercy, which is also a movement, a little movement are part of this. He says “the movement in new communities are like an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and in contemporary society.” So he sees in these movements, and communities, new communities, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or like an outpouring. He says, “We can therefore rightly say that one of the positive elements and aspects of the community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely their emphasis on the charisms, or gifts of the Holy Spirit. And their merit lies in having recalled their topicality or that is their relevance for the Church today.” So he’s seeing that as a positive aspect of the Catholic charismatic communities; to recall the presence of the charisms, or gifts of the Holy Spirit as something that is happening now. So Pope Benedict is speaking about positive elements in there, I think a lot of… I saw my family members were involved in the charismatic renewal at that point. And I think there was a lot that was very good for the renewal of the Church.  and aware as the Pope says, “an awareness of His action, and the different charisms.” And there was a lot of Graces of conversion and of spiritual renewal. A lot of people feel like there was like, the Holy Spirit lighting a fire in their life and giving them a great desire for God, for prayer, for scripture. But like a lot of things, there are also problems and confusion. And partly perhaps because it was beginning in the 1960s. So some of the problems of the 1960s were present. Sometimes people saw it as a break with tradition. And sometimes people wanting to be very open and ecumenical put aside things like Marian devotion and Eucharistic Adoration, and sometimes, there was an overemphasis on certain gifts like tongues or an over emphasis on experiences, certain experiences or an emotionalism which could sometimes lead to a manipulation, to things like music, and preaching. And so there’s a need for a mature understanding of charisms. For instance, some charisms are given at the beginning of a person’s journey. But a person has to realize that those graces, they won’t always feel those graces, they were meant for the beginning. And if we try to hold on to them, we won’t be being docile to the Holy Spirit, that’s what truly guides us in and helps us be docile to the Holy Spirit, is to always be seeking God’s will, God’s will is always the measure. When God wants to give these charisms and His manifestations, we should welcome them. But when it’s not His will to give them, we shouldn’t demand them. And so a mature understanding of the charism sees them as in this great tradition of the Church, especially in Scripture, and in the lives of the saints. So that was one thing that was happening in the 1960s, began in 1960’s and still going on. And another thing that might seem very opposed to that in the 1960s, was the traditional movement. As many were thinking the Church was breaking with its past, others felt it was important to try to renew the spirit of the tradition of the Church. And so like everything, the traditional movement could have its weak points and its dangers. But it was very positive in the sense of rediscovering the riches of the Church’s teaching and practice, and especially in aspects of the liturgy, like for instance, recalling it at a time where there’s such a crisis in the literature, the Church after the 1960’s that some of the implementation of the Vatican Council was terrible. And so they’re recalling the need for a reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, and the spirit of reference. That is part of the best of the tradition of the Church. And so I think we shouldn’t oppose these two things, the true prophetic gifts and the authentic tradition, because tradition is rooted in a large part in biblical prophecy. And the gospel is part of that prophetic tradition. So tradition is rooted in prophecy. And prophecy today has to be rooted in this same authentic tradition. So they’re not opposed. On the contrary, they’re complementary. And I think in recent decades, we see other signs of the Holy Spirit, helping the Church because there was many people experiencing after Vatican II, a terrible break with the roots of the Church. And I think we see other signs of the Holy Spirit, helping the Church to rediscover its roots. One important one is Marian apparitions and manifestations and devotion. And many of you are aware that just last week, we received a new message from our Lord, from our Blessed Mother, precisely talking about how important the role of when the Lord sends our blessed mother to speak and help the Church and her children. Because the danger was many people after the council felt we were called to put aside Marian devotion as something old fashioned. But the great Marian apparitions for instance, is obvious that we have like the older ones like Fatima and Lourdes and La Salette and Our Lady of Guadalupe. But even since the 1960s, some of them haven’t yet been approved. But there’s credible accounts of Marian apparitions. Garabandal in Spain, or Zeitoun in Cairo, Egypt, or Akita in Japan, or Medjugorje in Bosnia, or Kibeho in Rwanda. As I said, some of those haven’t been fully approved yet. But they are, I think, Marian, these Marian apparitions are ways in which the Holy Spirit is also continuing to renew and prepare a new Pentecost, and helping the Church rediscover its roots, because there’s no greater example of docility to the Holy Spirit and of openness to His gifts and charisms than our Blessed Mother. And another is, especially in recent decades, there’s been a whole series of Eucharistic miracles, precisely in this time, in which Eucharistic faith and reverence and devotion has been in such a terrible crisis and so many attacks against the Blessed Sacrament. The Lord has been renewing through these miraculous manifestations of Eucharistic miracles, helping the Church to strengthen our faith in the Real Presence, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And that’s helped to bring about a renewal in Eucharistic Adoration. And so that’s, I think, another aspect of the way the Holy Spirit is acting to prepare His new Pentecost. And another one is the great revelations of Divine Mercy. The prophetic manifestations given to St. Faustina which are part of this great tradition of the revelations to the Sacred Heart. Some people see those in opposition, as a contrary. That’s where the great rays are coming from, the rays of mercy coming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And it’s helping also the Church in this time, because in which there was a danger of the real danger, danger, which became of the Church losing, becoming simply like a human organization, a social organization. And these graces help the Church renew its mystical tradition, the authentic mystical tradition of the Church. And so these, I think, are different ways that the Holy Spirit has been leading the Church in this time of crisis, through prophetic graces, but prophetic graces which are rooted in the authentic tradition of the Church. And going back to that prophetic tradition on Pentecost, in which St. Peter was speaking, citing the Prophet Joelle, so, which was already several, many centuries earlier. St. Peter, on Pentecost on this great day says, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joelle and in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your old men and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Yes, on my men servants and my maid servants. In those days, I will pour out my spirit.” And they shall what? “They shall prophesy.” So that’s traditional, right? That St. Peter, that’s not Father, John Mary inventing that, right? That’s traditional, that’s 2000 years old. And it’s even older than that, because it goes back into the Old Testament, that’s very traditional. And yet, it’s speaking about the ongoing action of the Holy Spirit today. And we are witnessing signs of that. And that’s one of the things that’s so encouraging for our poor little mission. And because we’re struggling a lot, but in so many signs of, I mean, people are sharing with us all the time, signs of the Holy Spirit acting in their life, and just someone just sent us an email about an experience they had.  Someone who wasn’t from here, someone who came from another state, who was here last weekend, and a special experience he had in this chapel last weekend. And someone else who’s been with us for many years sharing of the experience that she had, during one of these Masses just a couple of weeks ago. And we’re hearing it all the time, so many graces that people are experiencing right now. And some of them when people are reading the messages that the Lord has asked us to share. That’s been very difficult, very difficult. There’s a very, in some ways, very, very trying experience for our mission. But we have so many people express feeling graces, graces of peace, graces of consolation, graces of strength, graces of hope, when they’re reading these messages. And so many people who said, this confirms what the Lord has been sharing with me for many years. And so those are, the reason I’m saying is because those are signs that what St. Peter was talking about, is happening now. And I want to share with you, this was a little message that the Lord gave for Amici Christi, two years ago on April 2022. So this is an excerpt he says, saying this to Amici Christi, “you are not ready now. But you will be in the measure in which you let me form you, your faith will become your Invincible Shield, and sword, shield and sword. This faith will be your courage and your strength. Remember Pentecost. Remember the transformation that took place in my apostles and disciples in an instant?” In an instant, “before then my apostles needed to…” What? He says three things. Learn complete abandonment to Me, absolute reliance on Me. So first, we learned abandonment to God to setting aside all their human criteria, judgments, and knowledge. And in the message, we just published on Friday, our Blessed Mother was talking about that too. Because that’s another thing we’re experiencing very painfully right now. So many people are saying, Well, God wouldn’t speak like that; our Blessed Mother wouldn’t speak like that; God wouldn’t speak for so long. But how often are we judging God’s words, by our criteria. And if we judge God, by our criteria, we can never receive what is of God, because God is always so much greater than our admissible criteria. So our criteria He has to be supernatural, divine criteria, rooted in Jesus. And the third thing is, this is hard. It says, “My apostles needed to be broken down in pain and humiliation.” The apostles needed to be broken down in pain and humiliation because they had their own human criteria, their own understanding, their own pride and arrogance, their own spiritual pride. And so they had to be broken down in pain and humiliation. And the Lord is doing that with us. And if you’re not having enough pain and humiliation in your life, we can share some with you. We have some to spare. But he doesn’t end there. He doesn’t say he says been broken down and pain and humiliation why? In order to be built in order to be built back so it’s not built back better, right? This is “in order to be built back in Me, only Me.” So God sometimes has to humble us, so that He can build us up in Him. “This is what I do in you as well.” That is He’s saying that the same process that He put His apostles and disciples through, that’s what He’s doing now, and that’s why what we’re living is so painful and so humiliating because He’s preparing us for the Holy Spirit. “Trust your Jesus. He says, despite what you see and feel in yourselves, despite your fears, misgivings despondency, trust in Me.” And this is a key paragraph, He says, “that this time of Mercy kept hidden for centuries, until this hour, this part of my plan will culminate with an outpouring such as the world has never seen or will see as endow. A foreshadowing of what My victory will be like, to strengthen My children, My soldiers for the great battle of the reconquest.” So He needs to prepare us for the great reconquest. And so for that He needs to strengthen us. And He says, to do things that He’s never done before. And so that’s why we have to be careful. And that doesn’t think with a problem with a document that was published by the Vatican on Friday. There’s good things in that document. But we have to be careful that we’re not limiting God, to our criteria. Because God can do things. And He says that clearly in Scripture, do things that He has never done before, making all things new. What are we praying for today? What does the psalm say, the Holy Spirit who will renew the face of the earth. It doesn’t say, the Holy Spirit who will keep the face of the earth like it’s always been, it’s not what we want. Do we want things to always be like they are now? No, we want it to renew, to transform, by His divine fire, the face of the earth. And that’s why we also experience in our lives the cross, to bring about a new Pentecost. And that’s what I think these messages are leading us to. The messages, or the reconquest, another way of saying it, is they are messages for a new Pentecost. And when Our Blessed Mother gave message that we just published, just, she just gave it on our Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. So just Friday, that was about as quick as we could get it ready, we published it. And she’s speaking about a new cenacle that the Church is living, a new cenacle. That’s when the apostles gathered with apostles and disciples, disciples gathered in prayer with our Blessed Mother. And that’s what prepared and that’s where the Holy Spirit came. And so what the Blessed Mother is saying is that she’s called to gather the Church in prayer, and her Immaculate Heart to prepare a new Pentecost. A reconquest of souls, for the Holy Spirit to transform the face of the earth. And so, again, that we shouldn’t oppose, traditional and prophetic. The authentic prophetic is always rooted in the traditional and that the true traditional is always open to what God is doing now. Because that’s what tradition is, it’s rooted in God, in the Holy Spirit. And so let us pray. Though, we are aware of all our weaknesses and sinfulness and that’s one of the painful things for our little mission. Because a lot of people are coming here on pilgrimage. We didn’t say, “everybody come here on pilgrimage,” but people are coming from many distances on pilgrimage. We weren’t really ready for that yet, but people are coming. Maybe there’s some of you who came today, and we kind of feel oh boy it’s kind of a poor little place where we, we have our little Tepeyac but it’s pretty poor. There’s not a whole lot here at this place. And people are expecting maybe to find a holy, but extraordinary community and with oh, sorry about that. It’s just us. But people tell us of graces that they’re experiencing here. And so all of us aware of our poverty, aware of our sinfulness, aware of our misery, but trusting in the Holy Spirit, trust in God’s Divine Mercy. Pray with our Blessed Mother. Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth.  Amen.  I’m just going to say a few words in Spanish.                     

KEYWORDS / PHRASES
John 20:19-20
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
Acts 2:1-11