There is a theme which can be found in the Book of Ecclesiastics that the more things change the more they remain the same. Two thousand years ago, the Church consisted of a small group of apostles and other disciples, gathered around Mary in the upper Room praying for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Outside the world was pretty much oblivious of their existence, let alone of the Gift they were awaiting. Jesus had told them that the World knew nothing of the Spirit of God. Today after 2000 years of Christianity, the Church is once again gathered together praying for the Gift of the Spirit on Pentecost, and outside the world goes on with its business just as it has always done, and could care less what is going on in the Church of Jesus Christ. In our country, the Memorial day holiday weekend is of much greater importance than celebrating Pentecost Sunday for most Americans, probably including most Catholics.

But numbers were never a consideration of Jesus Christ, nor of the Church gathered around Mary and united to Him by the Spirit. Many are called, but few are chosen, he had told them, for the many do not know the Spirit He would send on Pentecost Sunday, and continue to send upon His Church until the end of time. The Church cannot fail, regardless of its numbers, for Christ is with the Church always; the Church will be the source of God's salvation till the end of time because Jesus has assured its permanent existence and the success of its mission of salvation through the Gift of the Spirit, the Spirit who is identified with pentecost.

Jesus had clearly indicated that the Spirit would become the very soul of the Church, uniting this body of believers to Christ, and to each other, in Christ. Christ remains the source of salvation. To be saved, one must be united to Christ by the Spirit. All God's Graces flow from the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, the fountain of all the graces that redeem us, to the members of the body. The Spirit is the channel of these graces, the bond of unity between ourselves and Christ. The Holy Spirit eternally performs this same service of love within the Holy Trinity, uniting Father and Son, and being the channel through which their mutual love flows forever.

The Church, then, is the very image on earth of the Holy Trinity in Heaven, uniting in one vast communion of life and love a diversity of persons. In the communion of the Church, the Holy Spirit begins the work of transforming untold numbers of human persons into Children of God, uniting them with each other in Christ, and through Christ with the Father. Thus do we become united with the Holy Trinity, in one great communion of life and love. Only God can bring about this unheard-of gift of God, unimagined by anyone, that we should become God's true offspring, sharing the Sonship of Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. We who belong to the Church are literally being divinized by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ Himself was generated, as man, by the Holy Spirit, and as a true man, was plunged into the deepest things of God by the Spirit, for only the Spirit knows the deep things of God, says St. Paul. Reciprocally, The same Spirit regenerates us as true children of God, sharing God's Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus not only to beget us in God, but to teach us the ways of God - for only the Spirit knows the deep things of God - and to enable us to live as true, divinized creatures, sharing God's very life.

The Spirit teaches us the ways of God on the one hand through the gifts bestowed upon the Church, the spirit guaranteeing the truth of her teaching. The ways of God are found in Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life, and the Church continues to live His way of life and to teach that way, only because she is guided by His Spirit to know Christ from within. On the other hand, the Spirit confirms this teaching in the hearts of the faithful, from within, first by the gift of faith, and then by the further gifts of understanding, knowledge and wisdom. So the Spirit teaches us from without, through the Church, and confirms this teaching for us from within by his spiritual gifts.

Likewise, the Spirit alone enables us to live the truth we are taught. Who could imitate Jesus without the gifts of grace bestowed by His Spirit? Who could live a truly supernatural life in this world without the interior assistance by Grace of the Holy Spirit? It is the Spirit who teaches, and the Spirit who enables us to live according to that teaching. Yet the Spirit does this without in any way bypassing the body, the body of the Church teaching, which is Christ's body, and the body of the Church believing which is likewise Christ's body. Indeed, there is only one body, and one Spirit uniting that body with Christ.

How ironic that the unity the world tries in vain to establish on this earth is being accomplished before its very eyes in the Church of Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit - but it cannot see this. The unity of mankind, in the final analysis, can only be accomplished when it is rooted in and an outgrowth of unity with God, and this is the work of the Holy Spirit. We are mere cooperators in this divine work. The apostles on pentecost went out to preach and the peoples gathered in Jerusalem from many countries of the world heard their message, each in their own native tongue. This miracle was a sign that the Church was to be the great unifier of mankind, through the Holy Spirit, who performed this miracle. The Church, then, was not only the great source of saving unity in God, but in that very mission would offer the world whatever hope there is that mankind can find a form of unity in this world that transcends race and nationality and political system. Everything else is ultimately doomed to failure when it comes to establishing an authentic communion based upon love, a civilization rooted in the deep things of the human spirit.

Yet the world still goes it's own way, dismissing the Church and its talk of the Holy Spirit and unity as religious nonsense. It chooses to pursue peace and unity based upon its own purely human efforts. Yet not only is the world still far from any kind of genuine communion between nations, but we see more and more nations coming apart from within, while the great international and national powers stand by helplessly, too troubled by their own internal problems to help. The Church and the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ and His Spirit, have no ambitions in this world of becoming a super state or whatever. They exist for higher reasons related to man's ultimate communion with God. And yet this communion is itself absolutely essential for genuine peace and communion on earth among its peoples. And so we pray once again on this Pentecost, not just for ourselves, but for all mankind, Come Holy Spirit, come and pour forth your grace upon world, for you alone lead us to God, and you alone can renew the face of the earth.