Step out of your Fears – Dare the Holy Spirit!
To take a walk down any major Nigerian street, on a Sunday, is to experience a cacophony, all in the name of the worship of God, the Christian God. Amidst the ensuing noises, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are purportedly made manifest through healing, exorcisms and speaking-in-tongues. Yet, the Nigerian politico-economic landscape is in shambles, not to mention the decay of its ethico-social fabric. But by popular Nigerian standard, to fail to be a miracle worker is tantamount to being a fake Christian, not to talk of a fake pastor or priest. In such a world like we have described, it is important to talk about the Holy Spirit in a special and unique way – the Pentecost as the creation of a community not individuals.
How was the first Pentecost experienced? The first Christian Pentecost was a manifestation of the power of God through the Holy Spirit; the power of the Holy Spirit to transform fearful disciples into a community of audacious preachers of the resurrection, and miracle workers. Thanks to Pentecost, those disciples who wanted places of importance to the right and left of Jesus, during his earthly ministry underwent a transformation and became those who were happy to be flogged and imprisoned for love of Christ and the spread of the gospel; indeed, a community of “one heart and one soul” was formed. So, to emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to encourage the transformation of our earth through divino-human endowments, through gifts/charisms from God; yes, the charisms inspired by the Holy Spirit underscore human co-responsibility with God to make the world a better place, the formation of a Christian community and family. Gifts of speaking in tongues, miracle working, exorcism, administration, etc. are meant for the good of the community, a community founded in and through the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are evidence that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in a community: patience in difficulty, joy in sorrow, love in hatred, peace in persecution, etc. these virtues are essential for every Christian community, province and circumscription.
The Holy Spirit did not build the Church in a void, but on a concrete, real, and palpable human being – flesh and blood – Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ is a historical figure, solidly implanted in human experiences, vicissitudes and vagaries. If you believe me, then this historical aspect of Jesus Christ and the role and implication of the Holy Spirit in making sure that the veracity of the historicity of Jesus Christ is never forgotten, is what I want to underscore in this message of Pentecost – Pentecost celebration as a journey backwards to reconnect with our origins.
Yes, the Holy Spirit calls us to a recollection because he is the Spirit who reminds us of who and what Jesus was and is. The Holy Spirit is anamnesic – the guarantor of remembrance; he is at the source of the memories of what Jesus did, lived for and said. If anything, I want to plead with us all and encourage us all to allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of why we are Spiritans, why he called us to the Spiritan family; to remind us of the love of God and human beings; to remind us of the need to be faithful and holy through and through; to recall to mind where we came from and where we are headed. The Holy Spirit not only reminds us of what and who Jesus was and is, but also, he leads us into the whole and complete truth.
The Holy Spirit reminds us of the African proverb – reculer pour mieux sauter (draw backwards or reverse in order to jump or leap forward better). The Holy Spirit leads us back to who Jesus was and is in order to lead us forward into the future God himself has charted out for us. Today, on every Pentecost, we must be a people both of the past and of the future; a people who are sure of their foundation and where they are headed. For us, Province of Nigeria North-West, who are just seven-years-old as a Province, threatened by poverty and assailed by infidelity, let us remember May 27, 1703, when we were founded by a scholastic surrounded by an uncertain future, but full of confidence in the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead the way into the future, and make a way in a bleak future.
Step out of your fears – Dare the Holy Spirit! This is the spirit of Claude Francois Poullart Des Places in founding the Holy Ghost Congregation, as a simple seminarian, with no source of financial income; he did it anyway because the Holy Spirit emboldened him. When the odds add up against us, that is the time to step out of our fears and dare the Holy Spirit; it is when financial crunch makes our future bleak, in Africa, that we need to dare the Holy Spirit; when old age threatens the future of the Spiritans in North Atlantic, then it is time to dare the Holy Spirit. Now that waves of secularism, relativism, irreligiousness and Christian persecutions mar our times, in all continents of the world, it is the appropriate time to dare the Holy Spirit.
Those who dare the Holy Spirit always find reasons to be hopeful because the Holy Spirit journeys with us. To dare the Holy Spirit is to have a special relationship with him, on account of which we see him acting in all circumstances of our lives and ministries. To dare the Holy Spirit is to place corporate existence above personal, ethnic and tribal sentiments because we form a community in the Holy Spirit, and we are not a bunch of individuals. For those who dare the Holy Spirit, they never sing dirges, but songs of renewal, revival and vivacity. Indeed, to be Spiritans is to remember to pray – “Send forth your Spirit oh Lord, and renew the face of the earth”!
May this Pentecost anchor us solidly in the past of the founding of Christianity, in the past of the founding of our Holy Ghost Congregation, in the Apostolic past and fidelity, and continue to lead us courageously into the future guaranteed by the presence, power and activities of the Holy Spirit.
Happy Feast Day, One and All!
Ayodele Ayeni, C.S.Sp.
Provincial Superior of Nigeria North-West.