When I’m driving, I always have my radio on. It cheers me up, and it provides me with good quality entertainment, current information and invaluable updates on the traffic news. From my point of view, the radio in the car is as essential as all its other parts. Last Monday I was travelling to the far north of Scotland. BBC Radio Scotland was on as usual, but a few miles north of Lairg my radio automatically switched to apparently the most common radio station in that area – the monotonous Static FM! It was even worse than Classic FM (but not much). So for quite long spells I was ‘audibly blind’.
Today’s Solemnity of Pentecost recalls the historical event when the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit in an extraordinarily spectacular manner, as we heard in the first reading. The list of different nationalities expressed symbolically that the Church is sent out to the whole world. It reiterates the mission that Jesus assigned to the Apostles on the Sunday of his resurrection, as presented in today’s gospel: ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ Since then countless Christians have devoted their lives to spreading the Good News, and nowadays it’s very hard to find a place in the world where nobody has ever heard about Jesus. We could claim justifiably that, in geographical terms, the mission has been accomplished. But we know it’s not that simple. The mission is not about making people aware of Jesus, but about making them his followers. In that sense the mission of the Church is far from over, and it seems we are further away than ever from its completion.
At the turn of the 20th century new religious, Pentecostal movements started appearing, mainly in the USA. They rose to significant prominence in the 1950s and -60s, either as new Christian churches, or as movements within the established ones, including the Catholic Church. Their way of worship is very dynamic, lively, often loud and noisy, and involves strong emotional aspects. Those Pentecostal churches and movements were perceived by many as the remedy to the decline of Christianity. Certainly this kind of new approach is appealing to many modern Christians. Yet despite their obvious positive impact on many lives, those Pentecostal churches and movements unfortunately have failed to arrest the fall in the number of people identifying themselves as Christians. So, no silver bullet…
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Christian life is something much more than just a lively way of worshipping; it extends far deeper than that. The Holy Spirit is the essence of Christian life, as St Paul reminded us in the second reading: ‘No one can say “Jesus is Lord” unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.’ It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us God’s plans, and who gives us the necessary abilities and skills to carry out those plans, trusting in God’s goodness. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t remove our capacity to apply our intelligence, reason and will, but works on these and perfects them.
Once I was driving back home from the Fort William area. I got an early enough warning on the radio that the road I’d planned to take was closed, so I could have opted to take another route. Yet I didn’t pay any heed that message: I ‘knew better…’ Of course I got stuck in the middle of nowhere, and then I had to make quite a long detour, following a long string of slow-moving lorries, vans and coaches. Had I heeded the message on the radio, I would have got home much earlier. The radio couldn’t force me to listen and respond; it just gave me all the necessary information, but I had to make up my mind. It’s a bit like that with the Holy Spirit. First of all, you have to fine-tune yourself to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you deep inside. Then it’s up to you to decide if you want to follow.