This Week’s Thought from Fr. Bob Warren, SA This Feast of Pentecost is often called the “birthday of the Church”. That is a good description, but there is a problem because when most of us say the Church, we unconsciously think of the Church as we know it today. On the first Pentecost there was no church as we know it now. There was no papacy as we understand it today, but there was a leader of fisherman named Peter, and he made mistakes. There were no papal encyclicals. The first one was written in 1730. There were no cardinals. That rank was created in the eleventh century. It was not until medieval times that we see the title “monsignor”. There was no canon law until the twelfth century. There were no church buildings, basilicas or cathedrals until the fourth century. There were no monks or nuns at the beginning of the church. Much of the organizational growth of the church over the centuries was necessary. But it had the unfortunate effect of making people identify the Church with its real estate, bureaucracy, titles and laws, instead of with themselves. The Holy Spirit fell on people that first Pentecost, and the Church was born. The Spirit did not fall on the structure or the externals, for as we have seen, there were none. The Spirit fell on unwashed fishermen, peasant carpenters, ordinary housewives, tax collectors and seedy marginal folk. The Spirit glued them together by three things – baptism into Jesus – the breaking of the Bread – and witness by ordinary people. These were the basics of the beginning Church. The presumption was that each one upon whom the Spirit fell had gifts to use to spread the Gospel. The early Church was made up of simple people with a variety of gifts. The miracle of Pentecost was not that people could understand what the disciples said. The miracle was that ordinary people, who recently had been in hiding and full of fear, suddenly were Church and making bold proclamations without fear. A convert once said that he became a Catholic when a Christian friend took care of his family when he was out of work. He said, “That was the first time I ever thought the Church might be worthwhile.” He did not say it was the first time he thought the Vatican, the titles or the real estate might be worthwhile. No, he said when he saw the witness of his friend that the Church might be worthwhile. Often that is why people join our Church. Not because of lofty doctrine or great buildings, but because they see the Church in action in the lives of people who are Church. If we were set down in the desert, we would still be Church. If we had to gather in a prison cell to celebrate Mass or if we had to hide in a barn to baptize our children, we would still be Church. Baptism, Eucharist and witness make us Church. These define our identities just as they did on that first Pentecost when the Church was born. Everything else -- the organization, buildings, titles and canon law are helpful but, basically, peripheral and incidental. If someone should ask you to tell them about your parish, you might talk about the buildings, but you would be wrong. The building is merely the place where the Church meets to worship. The proper response would be, “This Church is made up of warm, caring and gifted people.” Then as an afterthought – “Oh yes, the buildings are nice too.”
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 14:02:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015