Pope’s Pentecost Sunday homily

(May 24, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday marked the solemn feast of Pentecost with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, reminding Catholics that the Church is one and universal. Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, as Jesus had promised before his Ascension into heaven. Speaking during his homily the Pope noted that the Holy Spirit is the "new and powerful self-communication of God," that "triggers a process of reunification of the divided and dispersed parts of the human family." The effect of God's work is unity, the Holy Father explained, but the Church never remains a prisoner within political, racial and cultural confines; she cannot be confused with states nor with federations of states, because her unity is of a different type and aspires to transcend every human frontier." "The path of Christians and of the particular Churches must always confront itself with the path of the one and Catholic Church, and harmonize with it." This, he clarified, is not a "homogenization," as can be seen by the multiple languages at Pentecost. Instead, the "unity of the Spirit is manifested in the plurality of understanding. The Church is one and multiple by her nature, destined as she is to live among all nations, all peoples, and in the most diverse social contexts," he said. Reflecting on the Holy Spirit as the flame, the Pope said it is a fire that burns but does not destroy, bringing out better and truer part of man. Yet it demands something dear from us which we loath to part with. On one hand, we want to be with Jesus, follow him closely, and, on the other hand, we are afraid of the consequences that this brings with it. "We must know how to recognize that losing something, indeed, losing ourselves for the true God, the God of love and of life, is in reality gaining ourselves, finding ourselves more fully, the Pope added.