At the first Pentecost, the promised Gift, the Holy Spirit, descended on the disciples. They heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven. A tongue of fire came to rest on each of them. Remarkable things began to happen. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak foreign languages. They proclaimed the Lord Jesus as the one and only Saviour. They were no longer afraid. They gave bold witness to Jesus. Three thousand people were converted on that one day. In short, the infant Church was launched. It was manifested to the world.
The early Church was sent to a world which did not yet know Jesus Christ, His life and work and His message for humanity. The Church had to meet people of various religions and cultures. Not all would receive the Gospel message and embrace faith in Jesus Christ. Their freedom was to be respected. Yet Christians were still called to enter into dialogue with them, bearing witness to Jesus Christ as the Spirit guided them.
As the Church celebrates Pentecost this Sunday, almost 2,000 years after the first Pentecost, the Church cannot avoid asking herself some relevant questions. What is Pentecost saying to the Church today? What progress report can be drawn up about how the Church for the past two millennia has carried out her divinely-given mandate of proclamation, witness and dialogue? How is the Church today announcing that Jesus Christ alone is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14: 6) and that only in Him do people find the fullness of religious truth and the means to salvation
Moreover, the Church at Pentecost today has also to examine her life of witness. How do members of the Church give witness to Christ by their lives as they find themselves living and working with people in varying situations: in societies marked by a sense of the sacred, respect for God and religion, or in societies seduced by secularism, permissiveness and practical or even ideological materialism? How do Christians witness to Christ both amid persecutions and in time of consolations?
All Christians are not united under one fold and one shepherd. What can be done, through prayer, study and practical cooperation, to heal the wound of Christian disunity so that common witness may be given?
Society worldwide is marked today by the presence of many religions. How effectively is the Church engaging in dialogue? What is being done to establish good relations of mutual understanding and respect, particularly with people of other religions? In what could sometimes be described as a religious supermarket, how do the followers of Jesus Christ react? How are they to show their fidelity to their Lord? (CARDINAL ARINZE)