From his vantage point as universal Shepherd, and gifted with all the graces of his office, Pope Benedict XVI sees what his flock is facing at this point in history. He knows the problems and the pains of the Church better than anyone else. In response to what he sees, he has asked all Catholics to do one thing in particular. He has clearly, repeatedly, and vehemently urged all Catholics to pray for a new Pentecost.
In July of 2007, more than one year before World Youth Day, the Holy Father sent a Message to the Young People of the World. The message is an extended meditation on this passage from Scripture: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). In his closing paragraph of that message, the Pope states clearly what he intended to do at World Youth Day in 2008: “Together we shall invoke the Holy Spirit, confidently asking God for the gift of a new Pentecost for the Church and for humanity in the third millennium.”
In his apostolic journey to the United States, the same theme occured again. In the Mass at Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C., the Pope intentionally chose to celebrate a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. In his homily at Nationals Stadium, the Pope gave three reasons for his coming to the United States. First, “I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus Christ is Lord…” Second, “I have come to repeat the Apostle’s urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins…” and third, “to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country.” Later in the same homily, he gently asked: “Today let us pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that same Spirit…” Later still in the same homily, he was more blunt: “And above all, pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out His gifts upon the Church, the gifts that lead to conversion, forgiveness and growth in holiness.”
The day following, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, the Pope celebrated Mass with religious and consecrated persons. In his homily, the same theme continued. He said, “let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on all present!” Later, he urged those in attendance: “So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence, let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that will make us living stones in the temple which He is even now raising up in the midst of our world.”
A few months later, the Pope went to Sydney for World Youth Day. At the closing Mass, his homily was an extended catechesis on the Holy Spirit. But the Pope did more than talk about the Holy Spirit. He deliberately chose, as though to prove the urgency of his message, to confirm several young people at the same Mass. At the end of his homily, as he was about to begin those confirmations, the Pope said to the crowd of youth: “As we pray for the confirmands, let us ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will revive the grace of our own Confirmation.”
In these words the Pope urged Catholics not only to pray for a new Pentecost, but got quite specific about how to do so. He wants those who are already confirmed to pray specifically for a renewal of their own confirmation. As Catholics we are already in the practice of celebrating the renewal of our baptisms. We do so in the liturgy at the asperges or sprinkling of water (in addition to the use of holy water outside of Mass). The Pope is telling the flock that just as we can and should renew our baptism, so we can and should renew our confirmation. We need only ask the Lord to do it.
There are many more quotes from Pope Benedict XVI urging Catholics to pray for a new Pentecost. Here is a random example (from his Regina Caeli address on the feast of Pentecost 2008): “Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain a renewed Pentecost for the Church again today, a Pentecost that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel.” Here the Pope urged us to ask the Blessed Mother for a new Pentecost.
Pope Benedict XVI is not the first pope to urge Catholics to pray for a new Pentecost. The theme appeared long before Vatican II. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical on the Holy Spirit (Divinum Illud Munus), and urged an increase of devotion to the Holy Spirit. Pope Leo’s vocabulary is slightly different. Instead of speaking of a new Pentecost, he prayed and urged all the faithful to pray that “those divine prodigies may be happily revived by the Holy Ghost, which were foretold in the words of David: ‘Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth’ (Ps. ciii., 30).”
This coming October a Synod of Bishops will meet in Rome to reflect upon the theme “The Word of God.” As far as the Pope is concerned, of all the things that the Church needs to be talking about and meditating upon today, that one thing is the Word of God. When we listen to the Pope’s clear, repeated, and vehement urgings to pray for a new Pentecost, and when we notice the choice of topic for the upcoming Synod, we get a clear picture of where the Pope is leading his flock. He is pointing us down the road to a place where together, as a Church, we will encounter the Risen Christ speaking to us today through the Word of God by the light of the Holy Spirit. Could there be anything more thrilling for faith? Could there be anything more explosive with love?
Sometimes it is pointed out that Pope Benedict has a great vision, but no substantial media for communicating his vision to the Church at large. He has nothing like a CNN where all Catholics always tune in. Nonetheless, there are many faithful pastors and priests in the Church. And they have pulpits. Furthermore, there are many religious, catechists, teachers, and parents in the Church. And they each have a circle of influence. If each of these passed along the Pope’s call to pray for a new Pentecost, if each of these invited people to pray for a renewal of their confirmation, undoubtedly a great many people would begin to do it.
And if many people actually did what the Pope is asking of us, if many Catholics really got down on their knees and begged for a new Pentecost, begged that the gifts and charisms received in their own confirmations would be activated and ignited, begged the Virgin Mary to pray for all this, then what would happen?
