Scripture Reflections on the Holy Spirit
By Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM,CAP
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM, CAP is the preacher to the Papal Household. For the last 20 years he has preached for Pope John Paul II on Fridays during Advent and Lent. He leads numerous formation sessions and retreats throughout the world. Fr.Cantalamessa is a prophetic voice speaking to many Christians throughout the world. He has a deep passion for Christian unity.
A Five part series from the Acts of Apostles Chapter 2, Pentecost.
Part 1. The New Law of Love: Acts 2:1-4
Part II. An Overwhelming Love: Acts 2:5-11
Part III. The Nuclear Energy of the Church: Acts 2:12-21
This series first appeared in The WORD AMONG US, A DAILY APPROACH TO PRAYER&SCRIPTURE, and is used with permission. For further information contact them at: www.wau.org
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Part 1 of a 5 part series
Pope John Paul II very often refers to a quotation from a letter he wrote in 1981 on the sixteen hundredth anniversary of the ecumenical council of Constantinople. That was the Council which proclaimed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In his letter, the Pope said: '`The renewal of the church providentially started and outlined by the Vatican Council cannot be fulfilled without the Holy Spirit. That means without his help and his life." I am convinced that there is a tremendous truth in this statement. The renewal of the church outlined by the Vatican Council cannot be achieved, put into practice, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
This is a new, dramatic intervention of the Holy Spirit, not just a normal common one; in fact, it is a new Pentecost Pope John X~II dared to ask for a new Pentecost, and I am convinced that God answered his prayer-that there is a new Pentecost going on in the church. It's up to us to choose whether we want to be among the people who at this first Pentecost said: "Oh, let them alone. They have just drunk too much wine." Or, are we going to be among the people who marveled and said: 'VVhat is this, this new truth? We listened. We heard them in our own language proclaiming the marvels of God."
The Hoty Spirit Comes and is Present
This is why I have chosen, my brothers and sisters, to speak to you about Pentecost Just reading again the account of the first Pentecost reveals to us a mystery. Something happens like what happens on the altar when we celebrate the Eucharist When we say the Mass, at the consecration the priest tells the story of the institution of the Eucharist; he recounts whet Jesus did on that night He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples.
The church simply tells what Jesus did by repeating the words of the consecration. According to our Catholic faith, when an ordained priest, acting in the name of the church, tells the story of whet Jesus said and did on that night, the result is that Jesus becomes present. The bread is transformed into his body, the wine into his blood. Something happens just by telling what Jesus did; something makes present what Jesus did.
The same, I am convinced, happens when we tell the story of Pentecost. When we listen to what happened on that day in the history of the world, the Holy Spirit comes. It is not just a quotation, not a reading like any reading of history; it is a special reading. It is the living word of God. When people listen to it in faith, the Holy Spirit comes and makes himself present. This conviction is the hope with which we are going to listen to this account of Pentecost.
I will divide my talk into five parts. We shall focus on five moments of this particular event of Pentecost. The first moment or the first scene let us speak as though it were a drama-of this drama is Acts 2:1-4:
When Pentecost day came around they had all met together when suddenly there came from heaven the sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of a fire. These separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.
So you see that when they were all together in the same place, suddenly something happened. We must read this in a very actual sense. We are these disciples gathered in the same place in this church. We are concerned; we are involved; we are not just spectators. We are actors in this drama. The event of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, was an incredible event-one of the four most important events in the history of humankind. The first of these very crucial moments was creation. The second was the incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of Mary. The third was the resurrection when Jesus, on the cross, redeemed us, destroyed sin and renewed life. The fourth was when the Holy Spirit came upon the church.
The New Law Wntten in the Human Heart
This epic moment in history is described in the simplest way possible. First, St. Luke
presents some exterior, visible signs which anticipated and announced the coming event. He
stressed something-a sound, a sign for the ears. They heard a sound as of a violent
wind. There was an audible sign for the ears. Then there was another sign for the eyes.
They saw something. They heard something-a violent wind, and they saw something-tongues
of fire. And, of course, there was the event itself: They were all filled with the Holy
Spirit. The others were signs, exterior signs; this was the reality. They were all filled
with the Holy Spirit. Consider what this means. What happened deep down in the hearts of
the apostles at that moment when they were filled with the Holy Spirit? To understand this
point (which means to understand what Pentecost is all about), we must know something.
First, we must know that the feast of Pentecost already existed before the apostles re
ceived the Holy Spirit. In fact, all of those three thousand people were gathered in
Jerusalem precisely to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. And what did the feast of
Pentecost recall for the Jews? At the beginning, in ancient times, Pentecost used to be
the Feast of the Harvest, a feast related to the natural cycle of the seasons. Later on,
certainly at the time of Jesus, Pentecost was the feast of the gift of the law. It
commemorated the moment when God, on Mt. Sinai, gave the law to Moses. On the basis of
this law, he established a covenant with the people. As St. Augustine pondered this point,
he said: See, look what a mystery. Fifty days after the people of God left Egypt, fifty
days after celebrating thePassover in Egypt, they received the law of God on Mt. Sinai.
The finger of God wrote the law on tablets of stone. Now, precisely fifty days after the
new Passover, after the immolation of the true Lamb of God, the finger of I God again
writes the law, but this time the new law-not in tablets of stone but on the hearts
of the apostles!
The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the very principle of the new covenant. He is the one who makes the new covenant alive and operative in our hearts. It's a new law but an interior law; not an exterior imposed law, but an interior law. And the Holy Spirit (this new law) is what St. Paul is speaking about when he says at the beginning of Romans 8: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." This is one of my favorite passages of all the New Testament because it celebrates so joyful a message. The law of the Spirit means the new law which is the Spirit. 'I~he Holy Spirit is the new law.
Knowing the Father who Loves
I must say that I have never read a better explanation of what the Holy Spirit achieves in
our hearts, how he changes a natural man into a new man, a new creature, than the one by
Martin Luther in a sermon on Pentecost. And thanks to the Lord that we can quote Martin
Luther in a Catholic setting today. Thanks to the Lord that we can take the good truth
which the Holy Spirit has inspired and given to any part of this body, and share it
together.
This is the first ecumenism-not in sitting around a table discussing theological differences. No, this first ecumenism consists of putting together the treasures, the inspirations, and the insights we all have received from the Lord.
Luther said: Natural man is born with many desires, including bad desires-concupiscence as we used to say. Natural man lusts after power, women, pleasure, and other things, of course, including money. In this situation, God appears to natural man (that means to each one of us) as the enemy, the obstacle, the one who has barred the way with his commandments by saying that you must do this, you must not do that. You must not covet another man's woman you must not give false testimony, and so on. Thus God becomes the enemy.
When the Holy Spirit comes, he starts revealing to man a new image of God, not as an obstacle or an enemy, the adversary of our joy. On the conkary, he becomes the ally, the Father who really cares for us, who really loves us so much that he gave his only begotten Son for us. In this way, man starts looking at God as a Father. This is the moment when out of a slave, a son is born. A son, a child of God. This is what being born again by Spirit and water is all about. And the new man says, "Abba, Father. I didn't really know you. I knew you only by hearsay, but now that the Spirit is revealing your face to me, I know you."
Let us ask again: How does the Holy Spirit achieve this kansforming of man from a slave into a son, kansforming the image of God as a master and a tyrant into a Father? How? With love. The answer is with love. Love is the new law; the new law is love. The new law is the commandment to love God and our neighbor. Even better, God loves you. Love, therefore, is the new law. This is why St. Paul says that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.
This is what Ezekiel wanted to say with his prophecy: "I shall take out of you a heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, my heart" (36:26). A new heart is the heart of God. It is not a new heart, an art)ficial heart, like in surgery. No, the new heart already exists; it's the heart of God; it's the Holy Spirit.
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Part 2 of a 5 part series
What the apostles experienced in that moment on the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit was an overwhelming experience of the love of God. This is what it's all about. They had an overwhelming experience of God. It has always been a surprise for me to read in the account of the beginning of the charismatic renewal the testimony of a student who was present at that very moment when the renewal started in the church. This girl said: "We were in the chapel. This chapel at that particular moment seemed to us to be filled with the love of God, so much so that we were afraid of being loved too much, that we would not be able to stand such love of God. It was as if the love of God was filling the house, the room and our hearts at the same time."
Brothers and sisters, when we speak about Pentecost we do not speak about an abstract idea. We are speaking of opening the window. We are all longing for an overwhelming experience of love. In all the experiences of our lives-our marriages, professions, friendships, through all kinds of undertakings-we are longing for love. We are longing for an experience of love that is beyond what we know, because no form of love which we can experience in this life is able to fill our hearts.
Changed by the Holy Spirit
Then came Pentecost. The account of that momentous day tells us that the possibility
exists, that we can experience the warm, overwhelming love of God. This experience
is open to those who accept the Holy Spirit, who ask for the Holy Spirit. And this leads
us to the second scene of our drama: There were devout men living
in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven and at this sound they all assembled and each
one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and
astonished. Surely, they said, all these men speaking are Galileans. How does it happen
that each of us hears them in his own language? Persians, Medes, Elamites, people from
Mesopotamia and so on. We hear them preaching in our own languages about the marvels of
God.
My brothers and sisters, what does this add to what we already know? It describes the first change brought about by the coming of the Holy Spirit. A father of the church used to say: "What the Holy Spirit touches, the Holy Spirit changes." When the Holy Spirit touched the apostles, we see that he changed them dramatically. Let us give a little attention to grasping how and where the apostles were so strikingly changed. To understand this we must refer again to the Old Testament. St. Luke wanted to make a contrast between Babel and Pentecost. In Babel, people all spoke the same language but nobody could understand the other. Now, all these people are speaking different languages, but everyone understands each other. Why? The book of Genesis tells us that the men who built the tower of Babel said: "Let us build a city and a tower. Let us make a name for ourselves that we should not be scattered over the face of the earth" (Genesis 11:4). These men of Babel were concerned about making a name for themselves. As a consequence, they were dispersed and destroyed. Now the apostles were starting to build a tower, that is, the church. The church is the building of God! But these men-Peter, James and John-were not concerned with making a name for themselves. No, as we read in scripture, they were overwhelmed by the marvels of God. They spoke of nothing else but the great deeds of the Lord. It was the great change; the "Copernican Revolution" had taken place.
Open the Door to the Holy Spirit
What, you might ask, was the Copernican revolution? Before Copernicus-in the sixteenth
century-people used to think that the earth was the center of the universe and that the
sun revolved around the earth. Then Copernicus (and many others after him) said that, no,
things were a little different. The sun was standing (at least relatively) at the center
of the universe and the earth was circling it because the earth needed the light and the
warmth of the sun.
In the spiritual universe, this Copernican revolution is still to be accomplished. Each of us lives in an unconscious perception that I myself am the center. I am the center of the universe and everybody and everything must be at my service. Even the Son. Even God. This means being se]fcentered and we are, more or less, in this pre-Copernican condition. We are self-centered. Each of us considers himself to be the axis around which everything revolves. The Copernican revolution which took place at Pentecost was that these men forgot completely about themselves and were completely fascinated by the Son. They became Godcentered. Christ-centered. This is what Pentecost can and must achieve in our lives as well.
There is a beautiful passage in the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer of our Catholic Sacramentary which says: "And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him-that is, for Jesus-he sent the Holy Spirit as his first gift to those who believe." Have you ever heard this prayer? This Eucharistic Prayer is seldom used, but it is very important. You see, to live no longer for ourselves but to live for the Lord, we need the Holy Spirit. This is why the Holy Father said that there can be no renewal in the church without the Holy Spirit.
There can be a spiritual experience which may look like renewal-improvements in the liturgy, revisions of the way nuns dress, changes in the way we say the Mass (not in Latin)-but these are small aspects. There is no real deep renewal in our Christian lives unless we open ourselves, allow the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We allow him because he wants to; he is ready to do this. He waits for us to open the door. And I hope that this very day many people will open the door to the Holy Spirit.
Just Imagine the power of the church if everyone were
filled with God's love!
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Part 3 of a 5 part series
We have looked at the first two scenes of the Pentecost drama.The third scene begins like this:
Then Peter stood up with the eleven and addressed them in a loud voice. "Men of Judea and all of you who live in Jerusalem. Make no mistake about this. But listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk as you imagine. Why, it is only the third hour of the day. On the contrary, this is what the prophet was saying. In the last days the Lord declares, 'I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your young people shall see visions. Your old people shall dream dreams. Even on the slaves, men and women shall I pour out my Spirit."
I am convinced this is more than just a quotation St. Peter took from Joel, from a dead prophet. This is a living word which is spoken here in the last days. This really means in the years after the Vatican Council, when the Lord has been pouring out his Holy Spirit on all humanity. He's still doing it. Old people are dreaming dreams; the young are seeing visions.
Endowed for Ministry
Once when I was speaking in the papal household where there are very many old people-old
cardinals-I quoted this prophecy of Joel and said:
Oh, how beautiful for the church to have these old people in the church who dream dreams, dreams of a new humanity, a new church, not of a church always oppressed and fearful, like the apostles before Pentecost. No, if such wonderful dreams are being dreamt in the church, it makes us think that we are headed for a new century, a new millennium full of the work of the Holy Spirit. And why? Because Jesus is alive. Jesus is Lord. Not because we are particularly clever, cleverer than our predecessors. No, but because Jesus promised that we would do works even greater than what he did.
Why is this particular scene important in the account of Pentecost? It tells us about the importance of the charisma, and here the problem is charisma. God wants to pour out his Holy Spirit, not only to change people's hearts, to transform people and make them holy, but also to endow them for ministry-prophecy, teaching, visions; all kinds of charisma have been poured out on the church. We know that, at least in our Catholic Church, charisma were a little (not to say a lot) neglected. We stressed the importance of the sacraments, of the word of God, of the ordained ministry, and the hierarchy of the church. Very seldom did we speak about charisma. We could say, in fact, that the Holy Spirit works in two different directions: from above, through the channels which are the sacraments, and also from the bottom, through any baptized Christian. I dare to say that the charisma are the nuclear energy of the church. Why? Nuclear energy is the energy hidden in any cell of uranium; the charisma are an energy which is present in any cell of the body of Christ, that means in any baptized Christian, in any lay man or lay woman. And imagine what the power of the church would be if we were able to exploit this energy which has been left unemployed in the church.
If Only all God's People were Prophets
The Vatican Council (in Lumen Gentium) said very clearly that the Holy Spirit not only sanctifies the people of God through the sacraments and the ministries; he also distributes all kinds of charisma, thus enabling people to serve the body of Christ in many different ministries. Certainly this is a matter which calls for collaboration between clergy and lay people in the church today. It is not an easy task. It is something very new in the church for lay people to take more responsibility. For me it is always a joy to see lay people and deacons serving the church in different ministries of service. It's a great joy. Of course this achievement is not always an easy one. The clergy must grow in understanding and appreciating lay people's ministries, and vice versa. But it is very necessary.
There was an incident in the Old Testament where Moses ordained seventy elders and the Holy Spirit was transmitted to them (Numbers 11:21-30). Two men (named Eldad and Medad) who were not present in the place where Moses was ordaining, received the Holy Spirit nevertheless. Joshua, a kind of deacon to Moses, ran to Moses saying: "Quick, come. Eldad and Medad are prophesying without having received from you the Holy Spirit. Tell them to be silent, to keep quiet."
I like this passage and you can imagine why. This scene is being repeated today. The Holy Spirit has been poured out to people outside the ordained ministry, to many Eldads and Medads who weren't ordained by the bishop. And, of course, there are people like Joshua today who want to say to the Pope, for instance: "Tell these charismatic people to keep quiet. They have been not regularly ordained."
What did Moses answer and what does the Holy Father answer today to people who are in this position? Moses replied: "If only all God's people were prophets and God would give them the Spirit." He was very happy, no matter what happened. 'Would that all God's people were prophets," he said.
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Part 4 of a 5 part series
So far, we've discussed the Pentecost experience, the celebration of Pentecost in the Jewish tradition, the power and reality of God's love, the transformation of the apostles, and the relatively untapped resource of charisma among the laity in the church. Let's move forward with this pageant to the fourth scene, found in Acts 2:22-36. Let's look at a few lines of this passage: "Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say." We all can receive the authority of Peter to speak like this. Remember; this is the same man who, a few days earlier, was so fearful that he was intimidated by a servant, a handmaid. Now he stands erect and dares to speak like this.
"Men of Israel"-which today could mean, "People of all the earth, listen to me." He challenged his listeners saying: "Do you remember a certain Jesus of Nazareth; do you remember him?" Then, when everybody had recalled Jesus of Nazareth, Peter loosed a new thunderbolt: 'You have killed him." Three times he repeated this accusation using different words. 'You have put Jesus to death, but God raised him up from the dead. God has established him as Lord and Messiah."
The Point is Jesus Christ
What did this mean? It meant that after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the
first thing the apostles did (after answering a few small questions of the Jews) was to
get to the point. And the point is Jesus Christ. Whenever the Holy Spirit comes in a new
and fresh way upon the church, Jesus Christ comes alive. Jesus Christ is set at the
center. He is proclaimed in spirit and power, which means in the power of the Spirit.
This is the first model of evangelization and if we want to re-evangelize our secularized, modern world, this is how we must start: Jesus Christ in the center, Jesus Christ as Lord. This is, I repeat, the model of any evangelization. We must start by presenting to modern man the person of Jesus, or better still, by helping modern mankind to come into a personal relationship with Jesus. This is not a slogan taken from our Evangelical, Pentecostal brothers and sisters. This is a proof, a great reality.
What the world needs is to have a personal relationship with Jesus as Savior and Lord. The trouble is, Catholics, and other Christian and Protestant denominations, are suffering more or less the same problem. To me the problem is that we Catholics have developed in our church such a widespread heritage of doctrine, canon law, institutions, liturgies, devotions and spirituality that we can overlook or neglect the basic truths. We have developed such a huge heritage of doctrine, that we don't realize that this is too much for a person who does not yet know Jesus, who doesn't understand who Jesus is.
It's like putting a solemn liturgical vestment on a child. Do you remember a very ornate vestment called the "cope" which a priest put on when he gave the blessings or the sacraments? Imagine this very heavy, gold vestment put upon a small child. This is similar to our rich, sophisticated Catholic understanding and doctrines being taught indiscriminately to people. We must follow a right order. All this comes later and will be very precious.
But first we must put forth Jesus Christ. Be sure that people come to know Jesus-not necessarily all the theology about him, all the Christology, but that they know Jesus in the way St. Paul did when he said: "I was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. I was fine in many respects, a respectable man. As far as holiness and justice embodied in the observance of the law was concerned, I was a perfect man. But at one moment, all the things that were my assets became loss for me. My loss-manure. Why? Because I met Jesus Christ, my Lord." In this particular case he did not call Jesus "our Lord" but "my personal Lord." "And all this is so I may know him" (Philippians 3:4-11).
Proclaiming the Living and Risen Jesus
I remember a time in my life when I was teaching "Inkoduction to Christianity."
I had written and read many books about Jesus Christ but there was one moment when I was
given at least a small experience of the Holy Spirit. This moment came as I was reading
this passage of Paul's. I was surprised when Paul said, "That I may know him,"
that simple personal pronoun "him." It says more than we might get from
reading many books about Jesus. It means Christ in flesh and bone. A living Jesus- not
just doctrines or theories or books about Jesus Christ.
I was at an ecumenical conference in Orlando, Florida, recently where the main concern was precisely to find ground for a common witness among all Christians. We all agreed very easily that this common ground is Jesus-the person of Jesus. We can proclaim Christ together, with no distinction whatsoever. This is the one Christian doctrine or dogma which all denominations share together. Even the doctrine of the Trinity is not completely agreed upon; there is discussion among the Greeks, the Orthodox and the Latins about the "Filioque," the way of understanding the procession of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is the only heritage we share undivided. This is why we must proclaim Jesus as Savior and Lord.
I can see from my own experience that even if I speak of many beautiful concepts, nothing seems to happen. We must proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, helping people to grasp what it means to have Jesus as their Savior-not in a theoretical way, but that every day they have a Savior, someone who will lift them from the fatigue of the day, of their sin, and their mistakes, and who renews them. He saves us. When you proclaim this living, crucified and risen Jesus, something always happens.
"TAKE COURAGE, I AM WITH YOU." Acts 2:37-42
If you want to proclaim the kingdom of God, leave everything and come
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Part 5 of a 5 part series
We come now to the last scene of the last act. When the three thousand ask Peter, "What shall we do?" Peter answered, "Repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins. Then" - and I add, only then "you will receive Holy Spirit." If we want this marvelous event to happen in our lives, this is how it must happen. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. We know what it means to repent, but what about people already baptized? How can they experience this event of Pentecost? What about people who are baptized but still need the Holy Spirit's power in their lives?
In this last part of my talk I want to tell you-not just in a theoretical way-how it is possible for a baptized adult to be baptized again in the Holy Spirit. I don't want to give you theory but just tell you-very simply-how this happened in my own life. What the Lord did with me, he is surely able to do with you.
Jesus is Lord
In 1975, while I was a professor of Ancient Christianity at the Catholic University of Milan, I began hearing about a new move in the church, a new spirit, a new way of praying. In the beginning I was very "anti." I told the lady who described this activity to me: "You should never go again to that particular retreat house." I was surprised to see that these people, whom you already realize were part of the charismatic renewal, were not offended by my criticism. They loved me and even asked me to give them teachings.
I once gave a university course about the charismatic and prophetic movements in the early church just to try to understand what was going on now. Some manifestations were exactly like those which had occurred in the first Christian communities, in Corinth, for instance. But, as you may imagine, I was unprepared to accept other things, like speaking in tongues.
In 1977, a lady from Milan received four all-inclusive tickets to go to America to attend a conference in Kansas City. This was to be a large interdenominational gathering of 40,000 people, half Catholics and half other Christian denominations. I was given one of these tickets because I was coming to the States to start learning English. I thought to myself: "After all, in a week I shall be over all this annoyance."
In Kansas City, there was one thing which particularly impressed me and I must share it with you. At one moment during the conference someone began to speak prophetic words. Prophetic words are authoritative messages spoken in the name of God: "You bishops, mourn and weep because the body of my Son is broken. You priests, mourn and weep because the body of my Son is broken. You lay people, mourn and weep because the body of my Son is broken." One after another, almost all the 40,000 people fell to their knees. This huge crowd in Kansas City was crying out as one in repentance. And above the stadium a huge sign proclaimed: "Jesus is Lord."
I was looking at all this as an outsider but I couldn't help being moved. I said to myself: "This is a prophecy for the future of the church. One day the church shall be reunited in one single visible body. This is how it will happen; through all of us repenting, praying and weeping together, under the I,ordship of Christ." But can you imagine, I was still very critical and said to myself: "This is very beautiful. No doubt this comes from the Lord, but I cannot accept it." I was unprepared to understand the expressions of other Christian denominations, especially Pentecostals.
Choose Jesus as Lord of your Iife
One of the hymns sung on this occasion said: "Lift high the banner of love; Jericho
must fall." It's the story of Jericho falling before the sound of the trumpets. When
the crowd sang the refrain, "Jericho must fall," my fellow Italians (there were
five of us) nudged me and said: "Listen carefully, because Jericho is you."
And Jericho did fall. It was a spectacular fall that began in Kansas City, Missouri, and ended in Convent Station, New Jersey. There was a prayer meeting to be held in New Jersey and someone invited me to attend. A priest said: "Stay with us this week." I remember thinking to myself: "This, after all, is not a house of perdition or prostitution. It is a house of prayer, and staying there won't do me any harm." I decided: "Lord, I will stay. I will give you another chance to speak to me."
After this decision everything went smoothly, even though I resisted with all my strength. You must realize that I did my best. There was a moment during the prayer meeting when we were in the chapel praying, and I remember saying to myself: "I am a son of St. Francis of Assisi. I have a beautiful spirituality. What am I looking for among these lay brothers?" At that moment a lady opened her Bible and started reading. It was the passage where John the Baptist said to the Pharisees: "Don't say in your hearts, We are sons of Abraham, we are sons of Abraham."'
I assure you, this is the way the Holy Spirit builds when he is present in a gathering. He speaks in a simple but very, very strong way. So I stood up (speaking Italian because I did not know any English then) and everybody seemed to understand my Italian. I said: "Lord, I don't want to say any longer that I am a son of St. Francis of Assisi. I ask you to make me a true son of St. Francis of Assisi. Baptize me with your Holy Spirit." Then they prayed over me. I recall somebody saying: "Choose Jesus as Lord of your life."
The Cross of Jesus Christ
Why am I mentioning my experience? Because if we are to receive the Holy Spirit in this
new, dramatic way scripture says that we must be baptized. But if we have already been
baptized, there is need of a new baptism or a renewal of our baptism. For me, baptism in
the Spirit was precisely this-a chance the Lord gave me to ratify and renew my baptism.
For most of us, baptism is a bound sacrament. That means that while we have received baptism in the church, the church gave it in the hope that at some point in our adult life we would confirm our "I believe" in a personal, free act of faith. Until there is this act of faith in the life of a Christian, baptism remains a bound sacrament. Baptism allows us to receive Holy Communion but it also reveals why there are so many inactive Christians, passive and lacking any power. Jesus promised power to his believers, power enough to cast out demons and convict the world. Why, then, are we so powerless?
Coming back to my experience, my perception was that I was simply renewing my baptism, choosing Jesus as my Lord, and renewing my ordination-my religious profession. There was a moment when somebody said: "Choose Jesus as your Lord." At that very instant I lifted up my eyes and saw the crucifix. It was as if Jesus was waiting to tell me a very important thing. "Careful, Raniero." Of course there was no audible speaking by Jesus. Nothing visible-only a deeper communication.
This is the way God communicates something without verbal expression, without visible images. He speaks directly to the heart. He was speaking to my heart. "Be
careful. This Jesus you are choosing as your Lord is not an easy Jesus. Not a rosewater Jesus. This is the crucified Jesus." This was when all my doubts fell away. If I was still wondering if the charismatic renewal was something superficial and emotional-just a lifting of our arms to impress each other, I was convinced at that moment that this renewal goes straight to the heart of the gospel, which is the cross of Jesus Christ!
A Love for the Word of God
Nothing spectacular happened during this moment of my baptism in the Spirit. Nothing. But
there was prophecy. Somebody said: "You will experience a new joy in proclaiming my
word." At that time I was more a professor than a preacher. For a while, this
remained for me a kind of question mark. Now, after seventeen or eighteen years, I can
tell you that this prophecy has come true. I have experienced a new joy in proclaiming the
word of God.
On the plane from Newark to Washington I had one of my first experiences as I found that in just praying my breviary the scriptures came alive. The psalms were not just words I knew by heart; no, they came alive. I was astonished. I read: "One generation proclaims to the other the greatness of the Lord." And a whole world opened in front of me. I remembered what is written in the New Testament: "Then at that moment Jesus opened their minds so that they were able to understand the scriptures."
This is what the Holy Spirit does. One of the first actions of the Holy Spirit is to open our minds to understand scripture, to see how true it is and that it is the word of God-the passionate word of a father to his children, for use in very personal situations. The love of scripture which results from receiving the Holy Spirit is unbelievable. I know people who cannot separate themselves from the Bible.
For example, I know a young widow who, after she lost her husband, was lost in fear. The first months were terrible. Then she discovered the Bible, so much so that sometimes when she went to bed she placed the Bible on became a woman filled with an understanding of scripture which sometimes enriches and instructs me.
When I came to Washington, I realized that I had a new desire for prayer. Something was attracting me to the chapel, and prayer opened to me the world of the Trinity. The Father spoke to me about the Son; the Son spoke to me about the Father; the Father and the Son about the Holy Spirit. I discovered the law of love which is the law of the Trinity.
Do you know what the law of love is? The law of love consists of not speaking of oneself, but speaking always of the other person. This is why the Father reveals the Son. The Son doesn't speak very much about himself; he speaks about the Father. When the Holy Spirit comes, what does he say? He doesn't start revealing his name; he doesn't proclaim ruah, ruah (r~cah is the Hebrew name for the Holy Spirit). When the Spirit comes, he says: "Abbe, Abba." This is the law. Imagine if this law of love were to be applied in a family. Imagine a father speaking to his children always of the good of their mother, and the mother always telling them of the goodness of their father. Oh, this would change many, many things.
Leave Everything and Come
A few months after my return to Italy, something happened which visibly and practically changed my life. One day as I was praying in my cell in the friary, I prayed for the first time in a manner vaguely like speaking in tongues; not exactly the same, but somewhat similar. For a moment there was a very deep-down communication-nothing verbal or visible-but I sensed that Jesus was passing in front of me. It was the same Jesus who came back from the Jordan after his baptism in the Spirit and he was saying to me: "If you want to help me in proclaiming the kingdom of God, leave everything and come. '
I understood that he meant that I was to leave my teaching position. At that time I was head of a department at a huge university. I felt an instant of panic. This university had established this chair especially for me. But I understood that Jesus was inviting me-a man who has many things to do and is always in a hurry. I was afraid that I would not be ready to answer "yes." At the end of this hour of prayer, however, by the grace of God, I found in my heart a full 'yes, Lord, I can." The Lord called me to leave my professorship and become an itinerant preacher of the gospel. Because I am a religious man with a vow of obedience, I went to my superior general and told him: "Father, I think the Lord is asking me to do something completely different." He said (as any good bishop or pastor would), "Let us wait one year more." So I went on teaching for one year. At the end of this time I went to my superior general in Rome. We both prayed and then he said: 'yes, it is the will of God. They will say that you and |I are both mad, but in ten years maybe they will change their opinion."
On the very day when the superior general gave me permiission to start a new life, the
breviary contained this beautiful passage from the prophet Haggai, in which God sends
Haggai to encourage the people. The people stopped rebuilding their own houses and started
rebuild-ing the temple of God. God was pleased and sent prophets to encourage them.
Haggai said: "Now take courage you Joshua, son of Jehozadak;
take courage Zerubbabel: take courage, you people of the land and work, because I am with
you, says the Lord" (Haggai 2:3-5).
After reading this in the breviary, I went to St. Peter's Square to ask St. Peter for a new gift of faith for my new ministry. It was a rainy October day, and St. Peter's Square was completely empty. Something compelled me to look at the window of the Pope-you know, where the window of the Pope is in the Square. It was as if the word of God were crying through me: "Take courage, John Paul II; take courage, you cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church; and work, because I am with you, says the Lord." So far so good. Except that three months later I was appointed preacher to the Pope!
Take Courage. I am with You.
Preacher to the Pope! Maybe it would be worth while to say a little about what this means.
Many Catholics don't know that every Friday during Lent and Advent the Holy Father takes
time to listen to a sermon, a meditation given by a priest of the Catholic Church, which,
for the last sixteen years, has been me. He never misses a sermon. Once when he was
traveling around Central America, he missed two Fridays. When he returned he came straight
to me, apologizing for having missed two sermons. It's really he who gives the
sermons to me through his humility, his example.
The first time I was in front of this very unusual audience I couldn't help telling what had happened to me in St. Peter's Square, just below the Pope's window. So again I quoted Haggai the prophet-not just as a quotation but as a living prophecy. I heard him say to this audience: "Take courage, John Paul II; take courage, you cardinals and bishops, you people of the land, and work, because I am with you, says the Lord." And I could see in the eyes of my listeners the word of God becoming an active reality at that very moment.
Very often when the Lord sends me around the world to proclaim the word of God, I repeat this prophecy of Haggai. Now I have the pleasure, the joy, of proclaiming it for you: 'Take courage, you bishops of this country; take courage, you priests; take courage, you lay people, and walk, because I am with you, says the Lord."