The Homily on the Vigil of Pentecost
(Br. Hermann Schalück ofm)

My Brothers and Sisters,

preparing ourselves for the Solemnity of Pentecost, I have two contrasting images before my eyes: one is the very chapel of the Porziuncola, the place of “pentecostal” renewal of our Franciscan Family. It is the place of the ever new celebration of the fruits of the Spirit, in openness and welcome. Here Francis received the word, Pardon, the companions after the mission. Here he received Clare. This is the place of the construction of the first “fraternity in mission”, here, down through the centuries, the Chapters were celebrated as places of listening, discernment and fraternity. In all this there is a living symbol of unity in the diversity of gifts. But also in the harmonious composition of the multiple gifts in fundamental unity.

The other image is a counter-image: The decision to build a tower (the first reading) is a symbol of a monolithic power that makes a slave of man, imposing a single vision of the world, one single authority, one single cultural and religious project. It is the symbol of every effort to bend religion and spirituality to its own ends, to put it at the service of power, nullifying the differences between people and cultures.

The promise of the outpouring of the Spirit on young and old, men and women, reminds us that there is no confines or limits of race, sex, culture or age. God is “Spirit and Life”, He is infinite freedom. He Himself is dialogue, relationship, unity in diversity. It is necessary to recognise the absolute “priority” of the initiative of God, without attributing to Him our prefabricated projects. It is necessary to pray incessantly with Francis: Give me a sign and knowledge, that I do your holy and truthful command.

I our Order today we also have more need than ever of the action of the Spirit, both in the conversion of our hearts and in the conversion of our mental and organisational structures. In order to overcome our resistance, I think that we should “ruminate”, in this Chapter also, on one of the most beautiful and most encouraging words of the Gospel. It is the invitation of the Resurrected Christ: Non avete paura.- Do not be afraid.- Habt keine Angst. The temptation is always that of closing in on self, of having the doors of our hearts, of the fraternities, of the Provinces and Conferences, of the very Church closed, while our mission in a world so beautiful and so fractured is always that of a more courageous incarnation, of an unconditional dialogue with cultures and religions, in a tone that is ever less clerical and more fraternal with all men and women of today. We also have the mission of a vital reciprocal communion with the whole Franciscan Family and, I think, especially with our Sisters the Poor Clares and the Secular Franciscan Order at this historic moment; and, not least, also with all those that seek to share with us, in new ways perhaps, the charism of Francis and Clare. Pentecost, the Pentecost celebrated here in the , I am convinced, could be an efficacious antidote to fear and prejudice. Do not be afraid.

In a discourse to the World Council of Churches (Uppsala 1968), the Metropolitan Ignatios of Lattaquié pronounced these words:

“Without the Holy Spirit,
God is far away,
Christ remains in the past,
the Gospel is a dead letter,
the Church a simple organisation,
authority would be domination,
(discernment an ideological struggle)* ,
the mission propaganda,
cult an evocation
and Christian action a morality of slaves.

But with the presence of the Spirit,
the cosmos is raised up and cries out in the birth of the Kingdom,
the Risen Christ is present,
the Gospel is the power of life,
the Church means Trinitarian communion.
(Discernment is the common search for the warmth of the Kingdom)*,
authority is a service of liberation,
the mission is a Pentecost,
the liturgy is a memory and an anticipation,
human activity is deified.”**

I conclude with one of my prayers:

O God, send us again your Spirit, to be for us a burning and brilliant fire, to cast away our shadows and fears and bring our love again lo life. May the Spirit be for us a breath of sweetness, consoling and soothing our timid agitation about our future. May the Spirit be a strong wind to fill our sails and to set a daring course for us, guiding us towards new horizons. May the Spirit be a storm to clear the air, water to make new flowers bloom after the drought. Lord of our history, may your Spirit enable us to experience at firsthand how the ancient mission you entrusted to us is still able to transform us and our world today.

* The two lines in (..) are an addition of mine. H. S.
** The text is found in: G. Daneels, Il Fuoco dello Spirito. Milano 1992, p. 11.