Faithful to the Word and to prayer

VATICAN - Ave Maria: Mgr Luciano Alimandi - 

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "If we want to prevent Pentecost from being reduced to a mere rite or even an evocative commemoration but want it to be an actual event of salvation, we must prepare ourselves in devout expectation for the gift of God through humble and silent listening to his Word. Since Pentecost is renewed in our time, perhaps taking nothing from the freedom of God the Church should concentrate less on activities and be more dedicated to prayer. The Mother of the Church, Mary Most Holy, Bride of the Holy Spirit, teaches us this." (Benedict XVI, homily on Pentecost Sunday, 31 May 2009). 

With these words the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, on the solemnity of Pentecost, indicated the necessary priorities for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit: listening to the Word of God in silence and humility and persevering in prayer! 
These priorities, clearly, are necessary not only for living worthily the feast of Pentecost which, as every liturgical solemnity, recurs annually, they are helpful every day. Every day if we wish we can experience a "little" Pentecost, because the Lord never ceases to give his Spirit to the Church, especially when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is celebrated and participated in with faith. 

In this liturgical action 'par excellence', the effusion of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the great miracle of Transubstantiation: through the words of consecration the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ! This is once again the mysterious descent of the Holy Spirit who wishes to draw to himself all those present, first of all the priest who presides the Mass. 

"At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord's body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, "one body, one spirit in Christ" (Benedict XVI, homily during WYD Mass, Sydney, Australia, 20 July 2008).

The Holy Spirit worked powerfully in the hearts of the first disciples of Christ but his power never 'wanes'. Centuries and millennia cannot lessen the power of the Holy Spirit, since God is above time and history, He is the eternal Present, while the world inevitably ages and passes. 

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Only those who live of God and in God, as the Church does, will never grow old in spirit. That "Power from on high" (Lk 24, 49) transformed the apostles because they were 'docile' to the words of Jesus. The same power wishes to transform the disciples of today, Christians of the third millennium, if He finds in them the same desire to belong to Jesus which animated the hearts and minds of the first disciples. 

The Acts of the Apostles tells us how the first disciples, guided by Christ, learned to live the two fundamental conditions, of which Benedict XVI reminded us. These conditions are the same for every Christian, for those who wish to become like Christ: remain faithful to His Word and pray always. 
Jesus promised: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you please and you will receive it" (Jn 15, 7). The Apostles "remained in Jesus": they did not leave Him to follow 'self' , they believed in Him, and lived his commandments. If we wish to keep His Word we must live it, or else it will be lost among thousands of words, beginning with our own. 

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The disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, waiting for the first Pentecost, following the example of Mary, the Bride of the Holy Spirit, learned to pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus and so they received the Power of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self control" (Gal 5, 22). They received all this because they "remained in Jesus"!

The Holy Spirit comes on the condition that He finds us gathered in Jesus. He must find in our heart the Name of Jesus! In other words, he must find a desire for Him. This desire, when authentic grows continually, nourished by adoration of God "in spirit and truth" (Gv 4, 24): in the Holy Spirit and in the Truth of the Gospel! 

A person who desires not to serve Jesus but to use Him, who assumes Him only superficially instead of giving him pride of place, who puts Jesus to one side so as not to sacrifice self, can never receive in his soul the transforming power of God, because he is not ready to empty self and become like Christ. 

"God's love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within", the Holy Father reminds us! (Benedict XVI, Homily in Sydney , 20 July 2008). 

Our Lady, "full of grace", was filled with the Holy Spirit, because she never resisted his action. Her longing for God and for full communion with Him never wavered or deviated, because, her Immaculate Heart allowed itself to be transformed, to become ever more perfect through the "power from on high ", and this is why she is called the "Bride of the Spirit". Contemplating Mary every disciple learns how to be docile to the words of Jesus. In fact Mary said to the servants, as she says to all the servants of her Son: "do whatever he tells you to do " (Jn 2, 5). 

Christian faith is diligent, it 'does' what Jesus wishes. May the Mother of the incarnate Word help us to live the Word of God ever more faithfully. 

(Agenzia Fides 10/6/2009; righe 70, parole 1.111)