Pentecost
" And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh" (Act 2:17)
Hapo Mwanzo, Neno alikuwako; naye alikuwa na Mungu, naye alikuwa Mungu. Tangu mwanzo Neno alikuwa na Mungu. Kwa njia yake vitu vyote viliumbwa; hakuna hata kiumbe kimoja kilichoumbwa pasipo yeye.
Obviously right now you probably think that Father Vasile had one two many drinks last night. And it is very normal to think so, since you did not understood one word from what I've said. The same way might have felt also the people sorounding the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came down upon them and they started to spek in all the languages of the earth.
At that time Jerusalem was a main trade city and many nation of the Roman Empire were passing through with their merchandise. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. (Act 2:9-11)
Each one of them was hearing the Holy Apostles speaking "as the Spirit gave them utterance". (Act 2:4) in their mother tongue. But obviously for all the others, that would not understand it was gibberish. The same thing for you today, hearing somebody speaking Swahili with a Romanian accent, it is nonsense. But for somebody from Africa it will sound like this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (Joh 1:1-3) You obviously recognized the first three verses from the Gospel according to Saint John.
You can appreciate now why the confusion in the crowd, because everybody would understand their language but not all the others. However, an important thing was happening: Each individual person would understand, for himself, the message of the Apostles. Christ the Word, the Logos, was given personally to every person present, through the very familiar mean of the mother tongue.
This is the moment when it is revealed to the world the fact that Jesus Christ has now a new chosen nation. The people of Israel betrayed Him, and now He is preparing for Himself a new nation sharing not one language, but one Holy Spirit. This holy nation of God, the Church, and Pentecost is its Birthday.
Christ is the Head of this Church and, we His people are its body. The Holy Spirit is the One that unites man with God and men with each other. The nation of God is made not just out of people of Israel, not just of people of the same origin, but of people sharing one baptism and one faith in Jesus Christ the Savior.
The Holy Spirit is the One that continues in the world the works of Jesus Christ, He is the One that has created the Church but also the One that keeps it together. He is the one that brings new members in the Church, giving them the light of the faith. Through the Holy Spirit the Church was formed, lives and grows
Saint Simeon the New Theologian was saying " Like the candili, full with oil, and with a fresh wick, does not shed light without being lit with fire, in the same way the soul is extinguished and dark until it is touched by the light and Grace of the Holy Spirit"
This is why we need the Holy Spirit in us, so he can plant in us the seed of salvation and to make it grow and shine within us. For this He has to come down in each of us, He has to humble Himself and come down to our human level, so we can be taken up to His heavenly place.
But one thing we should remember, that He will not force anybody to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev 3:20).
Salvation it is not something that it is imposed to us, or it is predestined. It is our choice. In Jerusalem the Holy spirits comes down over the 12 Apostles because they were ready to receive Him. They were prepared by the words of Christ. They will spread the same words to the nations and, when ready, the nations will receive the Holy spirit at their turn. Will see, at the sermon of Peter, that 3000 people will receive the baptism of Christ. And this was only the beginning.
Salvation is, however, as we mentioned, something personal. It is up to each of us to accept the Holy Spirit and take up our personal Cross and follow Christ. Christ respects our right to choose, our free will, but our free will is not manifested in our power to choose what movie we'll see tonight or what wine we are going to drink at a French restaurant. Our free will is fully manifested in choosing the right path of salvation, showed to us in the Church by the Holy Spirit. Free will is to freely choose a life in Christ.
I know that sometimes following Christ is hard, fasting can be difficult, standing in Church painful, praying too long and boring, but I am sure that in those moments when we feel the Holy Spirit feeling our hearts with joy, we forget all that is harsh and difficult, and remember only the joy of being united with God, even for a brief moment.
An alpinist that climbs a mountain forgets all the difficulties of the road when he figures himself at the peak, putting up the flag of his country. In the same way we should forget what is difficult and think of the prize that awaits for us at the end of our earthly struggle, the entrance in the Kingdom of God.
We should never forget that we always have with us the most powerful ally: the Holy Spirit that completes everything we do and makes as perfect, as our Father from heaven wants us. Amen.