"1On the anniversary of Pentecost, were all together in the same place. 2Suddenly, there came from the sky a roar, as of a wind blowing strongly, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw tongues, like flames, appear and divide, landing on top of each of them. 4They were all filled with Holy Spirit And they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance» (Acts 2:1-4).
For the Jews, it was one of the three great feasts. At the beginning, thanksgiving for the harvesting of grain (first fruits), but this was joined by the feast for the giving of the Torah, the Torahthe "instruction manual" of the world and of man, which granted wisdom to Israel. It was the feast of the Covenant to live always according to the will of God manifested in his Law.
The images that St. Luke uses to indicate the irruption of the Holy Spirit-the wind and the fire-allude to Sinai, where God had revealed himself to the people of Israel and had granted them his covenant (cf. Ex 19:3ff). The feast of Sinai, which Israel celebrated fifty days after Passover, was the feast of the covenant. In speaking of tongues of fire (cf. Acts 2:3), St. Luke wants to present the Upper Room as a new Sinai, as the feast of the Covenant that God makes with his Church, which he will never abandon: this is Pentecost.
The Holy Father asks all the pastors and faithful of the Catholic Church to join in prayer this Pentecost together with the Catholic Ordinaries of Holy Land, The Pope said: "We are calling on the Holy Spirit, so that Israelis and Palestinians may find the path of dialogue and forgiveness.
Shavuot is the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments of God's Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, after the flight of the people of Israel from Egypt. Therefore, it takes place seven weeks after Passover, which is the most important holiday for the Jews, since it celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from Pharaoh's slavery. In Hebrew “Shavuot” means “weeks” and also means oath: the covenant that God made with his people through the Law.
By the power of the Holy Spirit they make themselves understood by all, whatever their origin and mentality: Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the noise was heard, the multitude came together and were perplexed, for each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astonished and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it, then, that we hear them each in our own mother tongue? "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, of Judea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the part of Libya near Cyrene, Roman strangers, as well as Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the great things of God (Acts 2:5-11).
The action of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
What happens that day, with the action of the Holy Spirit, is the antithesis of what the Bible had told about the origins of mankind: At that time the whole earth spoke one language and with the same words. Moving from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
-Let's make bricks and bake them in the fire! In this way, the bricks served them as stones and the asphalt as mortar. Then they said: -Let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches to heaven! So shall we make a name for ourselves, that we may not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building, and the Lord said, "They are one people, with one language for all, and this is only the beginning of their work; now nothing they try to do will be impossible for them.
Let us go down and confuse their language right there, so that they will no longer understand one another! So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they ceased to build the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth (Gen 11:1-9).
The Pope Francis recalled during the celebration of Pentecost 2021 in Rome that the Holy Spirit consoles «especially in difficult moments like the one we are going through», and in a very personal way because «only the one who makes us feel loved as we are gives peace of heart». In fact, «it is the very tenderness of God, who does not leave us alone, because to be with those who are alone is already to console».
When the people in the biblical story began to work as if God did not exist, they found that they themselves had become dehumanized, because they had lost a fundamental element of human beings, which is the ability to agree, to understand each other and to act together. This text contains a perennial truth. In such a technified society, with so many means of communication and information, as the contemporary one, we speak less and less and we understand each other less and less, we lose the real capacity to communicate in an open and sincere dialogue. We need something to help us recover this capacity to be open to others.
What human pride has broken, the action of the Holy Spirit puts back together again. Today too, docility to the Holy Spirit is what gives us the help we need to build a more humane world, in which no one feels alone, deprived of the attention and affection of others. Jesus promised it to the apostles and to each one of us: I will pray the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you always (Jn 14:16). He uses a Greek word para-kletós which means "the one who speaks next to": is the friend who accompanies us, encourages us and guides us along the way.
Now that we are talking to God in this time of prayer, we ask ourselves in his presence: do I strive to build my professional and family life, my friendships, the society in which I live, as a world built by my own efforts without caring about God? Or do I want to listen and be docile to the loving voice of the Holy Spirit, that inseparable companion that Jesus has placed at my side to guide and encourage me?
We can invoke the Holy Spirit with an ancient and beautiful prayer of the Church: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your Love. And we ask the Blessed Virgin, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, that, like her, we may let him do great things in our souls, so that we may know how to love God and others, and build with his help a better world.
Mr. Francisco Varo Pineda
Director of Research at the University of Navarra.
Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Faculty of Theology.
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEON XIV, St. Peter's Square, Saturday, June 7, 2025.
Dear sisters and brothers:
The creative Spirit, which we have invoked with the song -Veni creator Spiritus-, is the Spirit that descended upon Jesus, the silent protagonist of his mission: «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me» (Lc 4,18). By asking him to visit our minds, multiply our languages, enkindle our senses, infuse love, comfort our bodies and endow us with peace, we have opened ourselves to welcome the Kingdom of God. This is conversion according to the Gospel: to set us on the way to the Kingdom that is already at hand.
In Jesus we see and from Jesus we hear that everything is transformed, because God reigns, because God is near. On this vigil of Pentecost we find ourselves intimately linked by God's proximity, by his Spirit who unites our stories to that of Jesus. We are involved in the new things God is doing, so that his will of life may be fulfilled and prevail over the will of death.
«He has consecrated me by anointing. He sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim a year of the Lord's favor» (Lc 4,18-19).
We perceive here the perfume of the chrism with which our foreheads were marked. Baptism and Confirmation, dear brothers and sisters, have united us to the transforming mission of Jesus, to the Kingdom of God. As love makes us familiar with the scent of a loved one, so tonight we recognize in one another the perfume of Christ. It is a mystery that surprises and makes us think.
At Pentecost Mary, the Apostles, the disciples and the disciples with them were filled with a Spirit of unity, which forever rooted their diversities in the one Lord Jesus Christ. Not many missions, but one mission.
Not introverted and bellicose, but extroverted and luminous. This St. Peter's Square, which is like an open and welcoming embrace, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church, experienced by each of you in the various associative and community experiences, many of which represent fruits of the Second Vatican Council.
On the evening of my election, looking with emotion at the people of God gathered here, I remembered the word “synodality,” which happily expresses the way in which the Spirit shapes the Church. In this word resounds the syn -meaning with- that constitutes the secret of God's life. God is not solitude. God is “with” in himself - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and he is God with us. At the same time, synodality reminds us of the way -odós- because where the Spirit is, there is movement, there is a way. We are a people on the way.
This awareness does not alienate us, but immerses us in humanity, like leaven in the dough, which leavens it all. The year of grace of the Lord, of which the Jubilee is an expression, has in itself this leaven. In a broken and peaceless world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together. The earth will rest, justice will be affirmed, the poor will rejoice and peace will return if we stop moving as predators and start moving as pilgrims. No longer each one on his own, but harmonizing our steps with the steps of others. No longer consuming the world with voracity, but cultivating it and guarding it, as the Encyclical teaches us. Laudato si’.
Dear brothers and sisters, God created the world so that we might be together. “Synodality” is the ecclesial name for this awareness. It is the path that asks each one of us to recognize our debt and our treasure, feeling that we are part of a totality, outside of which everything withers, even the most original of charisms. Look: the whole of creation exists only in the modality of existing together, sometimes dangerously, but always together (cf, Laudato si’ 16; 117).
And what we call “history” takes shape only in the form of a coming together, a living together, often in the midst of dissent, but still a living together. The opposite is deadly and unfortunately is before our eyes every day. May your aggregations and communities be places where fraternity and participation are practiced, not only as places of encounter, but also as places of spirituality.
The Spirit of Jesus changes the world because he changes hearts. He inspires, in fact, that contemplative dimension of life that drives away self-assertion, murmuring, the spirit of controversy, the domination of consciences and resources. The Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (cf. 2 Co 3,17). Authentic spirituality commits us, therefore, to integral human development, actualizing among ourselves the word of Jesus. Where this happens there is joy. Joy and hope.
Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not a human conquest of the world, but the infinite grace that spreads through lives transformed by the Kingdom of God. It is the way of the beatitudes, an itinerary that we travel together, in continuous tension between the “already” and the “not yet”, hungry and thirsty for justice, poor in spirit, merciful, meek, pure of heart, working for peace. To follow Jesus on this path He has chosen, there is no need for powerful protectors, worldly commitments or emotional strategies.
Evangelization is God's work and, if it sometimes passes through our persons, it is because of the bonds that it makes possible. Therefore, be deeply attached to each of the particular Churches and parish communities where you nourish and spend your charisms. Close to your bishops and in synergy with all the other members of the Body of Christ, we will then act in harmonious harmony. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future less dark, discernment less difficult, if together we obey the Spirit.
May Mary, Queen of Apostles and Mother of the Church, intercede for us.
carf@fundacioncarf.orgLandline: +34 914 029 082Mobile: +34 638 078 51145 Conde de Peñalver Street.
