Pope John XXIII (1881 –1963)
The Shalom
of Jesus and John
Solemnity of Pentecost – May 27,
2012
First
reading from Acts
When the day of
Pentecost arrived, all the believers were gathered together in one place. And
suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong blowing wind, and it filled the entire house in which they
were. Then what looked like tongues of fire appeared and settled on their
heads. And all were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
Now there were devout
Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. When they heard the roaring in the sky above the house, they gathered in a
large crowd, and were stunned to hear their own
language being spoken by the disciples. “How can this be,” they exclaimed. ”For
these men are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native
language! Here we are -- Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabians. And yet we all hear
these men speaking of the mighty acts of God in our own languages”
The word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together behind doors locked out of fear of the Jewish authorities, Jesus suddenly appeared and greeted them saying, ”Shalom!” (“Peace!”) When He had said this, He showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Shalom! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise
to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Pentecost: the liturgical summit
With
Pentecost we reach the summit of the liturgical cycle which begins with the Son’s
descent to earth in the Christmas season, then continues with his ascent back
to the Father in the Ascension, and now peaks with the descent of the Holy
Spirit of Pentecost. With Pentecost we conclude the Easter season. The Paschal
candle will not be lighted during Sunday Mass anymore. But neither will it be
relegated to some dark corner in the sacristy for another year. It will,
instead, be moved to a privileged spot near the baptismal font. There it will
stand throughout the year to remind us that Jesus is present to us in the Holy
Spirit of Pentecost. And it will be lighted whenever we baptize our little ones
into Christ. Tomorrow, May 28, we will return to Ordinary Time with its color
green. Ordinary Time will continue through the warm summer months into late
fall. Then we will start the liturgical cycle all over again with the first
Sunday of Advent (this year December 2) in preparation for Christmas 2012.
Pentecost: a Jewish harvest feast
Pentecost comes from the Greek pente meaning five or fifty. Pentecost was
a Jewish harvest feast which took place fifty days after Passover. At Pentecost
a devout Jew was expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to
give thanks for the harvest. (Ex 23:14-16) That’s what’s referred to in the
first reading: “When the day of Pentecost had come, the believers were all
gathered together in one place.” (Acts 2:1) It was on the occasion of that
Jewish harvest feast that the Holy Spirit (promised by Jesus before ascending
into heaven) was poured out upon the disciples. (Lk 24: 49) Pentecost, a Jewish harvest feast,
became a great Christian harvest feast which reaped nothing less than the Holy
Spirit.
Trent’s
prisons of certainty
The
gospel says that the disciples were gathered together behind doors locked “out
of fear of the Jewish authorities.” (Jn 20:19)
That’s what fear does: it locks everything up. In the 16th
century, the Church, fearing the Protestant Reformation, summoned the Council
of Trent (1545-1563). Trent, driven by fear, wrote for us a theology which
locked everything up in prisons of certainty, and put everything into deep
freeze. The freeze lasted for four hundred long years, and some of us senior
citizens were soundly reared in that deep freeze.
John’s new Pentecost
Then, at long last, there suddenly appeared
in our midst a man (or rather an angel) named Angelo Roncalli. He was called by
God to open up a Church whose doors and windows were slammed shut out of fear, for
four hundred years. On Oct. 28, 1958, the College of Cardinals elected Angelo
as pope, and he took the name of John XXIII. A few months later, on
Jan. 25, 1959, while speaking to a group of Rome-based cardinals in the
Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the new pope announced his intention to
summon an Ecumenical Council which, he hoped, would cause “a new Pentecost” with
fiery tongues to settle upon the Church.
The announcement was greeted, however, with
stony silence by the cardinals who feared “a new Pentecost.” In his diary (The Journal of a Soul) John writes that
his announcement of a Council was greeted with “impressive, devout silence.” In his address opening Vatican II John said, “We feel that we must disagree with these prophets of doom.” To
them he said what Jesus said to the
early Church gathered behind doors locked out of
fear: “Shalom!” “Peace! “
As Jesus cried “Ephphatha!”
(“Be thou opened!”) to the ears and mouth of a deaf and dumb man (Mk 7:32-35), so John cried “Ephphatha!” to a very closed Church which he had inherited. When Vatican
II opened on October 11, 1962, a great
theological thaw set in, a new Pentecost was enkindled, tongues of fire were ignited everywhere, and a
driving wind swept through the Church, blowing open doors and windows slammed
shut by fear for four centuries.
John
guided the Council through its first session (Oct. 11 - Dec. 8, 1962), but he died of
stomach cancer before the second session opened. As he lay dying he said to a
friend, “At least I have launched this big ship -- others will have to bring it
into port.” When he died on the evening of June 3, 1963, the whole world stood
anxiously at his bedside. No pope in history was so beloved nor had such a
positive impact on the present and future Church as did Good Pope John.
A call
for a new Pentecost
Fr.
Henri Boulad S.J., born in 1931, is an Egyptian Lebanese Jesuit of the Melkite
rite. He is rector of the Jesuit school in Cairo. He was superior of the
Jesuits in Alexandria, regional superior of the Jesuits in Egypt, and professor
of theology in Cairo. He has given conferences throughout Europe, Austria,
Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, France, Belgium, etc. He has visited 50
countries on 4 continents and has published some 30 books in 15
languages--mainly in French, Arabic, Hungarian, and German.
In July of 2007 this
highly qualified man wrote a lengthy letter[3] to Pope Benedict. In it he
complains: “Vatican
II tried to make up for four lost centuries, but one now has the impression
that the Church today is in the process of once more locking the doors that
have been opened, and is tempted to turn back to Trent and Vatican I rather
than Vatican II.” Then Boulad calls for a new Pentecost. He suggests the
convocation of a general synod which, like Vatican II (1962-1965), would last for
three years. The synod would examine in all honesty the sober realities
afflicting the Church, and anything else that would be proposed. It would then
culminate in a general assembly (a kind of Vatican III) which would bring
together the results of this synod and draw appropriate conclusions. Boulad’s suggestion of a Vatican III no
doubt has generated its own “prophets of doom.”
Shalom—a multifaceted gem
Two great human emotions jump out from the
Pentecost gospel: fear and peace. Jesus
breaks through doors locked out of fear, and He wishes the apostles Shalom (Peace) not once, not twice, but
three times. (Jn 20:19, 21, 26) Shalom is usually translated as peace, but it’s a very unique Hebrew
word; it’s a multi-faceted gem. The 70 men who translated the Old Testament
from Hebrew into Greek used 25 different Greek words to translate Shalom. Depending on the context, Shalom
takes on different shades of
meaning. It can mean peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity,
fullness, rest, harmony, calmness, etc. Most
of the time we simply say Shalom, and let the context suggest the shade
of meaning.
You wish Shalom to a Church afraid to face the issues confronting it - issues like a married
clergy, birth control, homosexuality, divorce, the shortage of priests, the
ordination of women, etc. You wish Shalom to a Church
reeling under its own scandals. You wish Shalom to churchmen
who are prophets of doom and fear a new Pentecost.
You wish Shalom to one
whose fears keep him locked up in prisons of certainty. You wish Shalom to one who’s a worrywart or who
makes mountains out of molehills. You wish Shalom
to one who can’t let go and `let God.’ You wish Shalom to one who can’t forgive and forget. You wish Shalom to one who needs to sort things
out and figure out what’s important and what’s not. You wish Shalom to one who’s faint-hearted and
needs courage. You wish Shalom to one
who’s struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over his head in these
hard economic times. Yes, you wish Shalom
to one who has received a chilling verdict from the doctor.
Conclusion
The Shalom of Jesus, John and Boulad
You wish them Shalom, as Jesus
wished Shalom to apostles filled with
fear behind locked doors. You wish them Shalom,
as Good Pope John wished Shalom to his
Church filled with fear, and then summoned it to a new Pentecost in Vatican II.
You wish them Shalom, as Fr. Boulad now
wishes Shalom to the Church of today, and then courageously suggests the
convocation of a kind of Vatican III to “examine in all honesty the sober
realities afflicting the Church.”[1] Or the second reading may be from Galatians 5:16-25
[2] Or the gospel reading may be from John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
[3] The letter can be found in its entirety on the
internet. The person who was supposed to deliver the letter in 2007 never did. It was finally
sent to the Pope in 2009 through the Papal Nuncio in Cairo.
