The wind and the fire, Pentecost: fifty days have passed since Easter and the group of disciples, with Mary and the other women, are in the Cenacle. Usually they were there to pray and listen to the scriptures, but that day something unusual happened: “suddenly a roar came from heaven, almost like a rushing wind […] Tongues like fire appeared to them.” The people ran to that noise “and were disturbed because everyone heard them speaking in their own language”, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit has completely transformed them, Pope Francis recalled in one of his first Pentecost homilies, and “fear is replaced by courage, closure gives way to announcement”: it is “the baptism of the Church which began its journey in history”.
The wind and the fire. In the Bible they are often associated with the power of God, states the Pope in the homily he delivers in St. Peter’s Basilica: “without this strength, we would never be able to defeat evil, nor to overcome the desires of the flesh that St. Paul speaks of, to overcome those impulses of the soul: impurity, idolatry, discord, envy”.
At the same time the action of the Spirit is strong and gentle, and for this reason the action of the Christian “is not overbearing, his strength is different, it is the strength of the Spirit”. The Christian does not act with “calculations” and “cunning”, he does not surrender to the strength of the world, but continues “to speak of peace to those who want war, to speak of forgiveness to those who sow revenge, to speak of welcome and solidarity to those who bar the doors and erect barriers, to talk about life to those who choose death, to talk about respect to those who love to humiliate, insult and discard, to talk about loyalty to those who refuse every bond, confusing freedom with a superficial, opaque and empty”.
The Holy Spirit “is the one who creates harmony”, states the bishop of Rome in the words he pronounces after the recitation of the Marian prayer of the Regina Caeli, and creates it “starting from different, sometimes even conflicting, realities”. This is what Francis asks, that the Holy Spirit “create harmony in hearts, harmony in families, harmony in society, harmony in the whole world; may the Spirit increase communion and brotherhood between Christians of different confessions; give rulers the courage to carry out gestures of dialogue, which lead to an end to wars”.
And a reference to the many wars today, in particular Ukraine, could not be missing: “my thoughts go in particular to the city of Kharkiv, which suffered an attack two days ago”. But Pope Francis’ thoughts go “to the Holy Land, to Palestine, to Israel; let’s think of many places where there are wars. May the Spirit lead the leaders of the nations and all of us to open doors of peace.”
In the Pope’s words also an invitation to be missionaries, to bring the Word with “strength and kindness”, and “call everyone with kindness” and “welcome everyone”.
But there is another word that Francis entrusts in the homily in St. Peter’s: hope. “We really need hope, which is not optimism”; it’s like “an anchor, there, to the shore, and we, clinging to the rope, towards hope. We need hope, we need to raise our eyes to horizons of peace, brotherhood, justice and solidarity.” It is a road that often “at times appears tortuous and uphill”, but we are not alone, says the Pope.
This was also underlined by Benedict XVI who in his 2009 Pentecost homily spoke of “products that pollute the mind and heart that circulate in our societies”, images “that spectacularize pleasure, violence or contempt for men and women”. . The “impetuous wind” of Pentecost, therefore, “to sweep away pollution, to say how precious it is to breathe clean air, but they are not the physical one (the explicit reference was to air pollution); there is a need for ‘clean air’, including spiritual ones, the healthy air of the spirit which is love”.
