PENTECOST VIGIL

1. "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you... Receive the Holy Spirit"! (Jn 20, 21-22).

On this eve of Pentecost, the Church in Rome is gathered like the Apostles in the Upper Room, after the events of the Easter triduum. They knew that the Lord had risen and had appeared to Simon. But Jesus himself came among them and offered the greeting of peace. He then showed His pierced hands and side, with the visible signs of the passion. Yes! It is indeed Him. It is the same Jesus, first crucified and now resurrected. "The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord" ( Jn 20:20 ).

As early as the evening of Easter Day, however, Jesus anticipated the event of Pentecost: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit".

2.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Diocese of Rome! Through a prayer vigil, reminiscent of the Easter vigil, we have gathered here to prepare ourselves for the solemnity of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which we have just heard, recalls what happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost: the sudden rushing wind, the appearance of tongues of fire, the Apostles who, filled with the Holy Spirit, began to proclaim the Gospel in languages unknown to them.

People belonging to various nations, and using different languages, hear the Apostles, who were Galileans, speaking in their own languages (cf. Acts 1:11 ): "We hear them proclaiming in our tongues the great works of God" ( Acts 2:11 ).

It is the solemn beginning of the mission of the Apostles, a mission received fifty days earlier from the Risen One, who had ordered them: "I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit" ( Jn 20, 21 . 22 ).

3.

"Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur": "send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created" (cf. Ps 103:30 ).

By saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit", Christ reveals the creative power of the Spirit of God that, poured out upon every man (cf. Gl 3:1 ), restores that unity of the human race that was broken, due to sin, at the tower of Babel.

Babel became the symbol of disintegration and dispersion (cf. Gen 11:1-9 ). Pentecost, on the other hand, constitutes the full fulfilment of the unity that, through the power of the Spirit of truth, is reconstructed precisely from the multiplicity of human existence and experience.

Christ is placed at the head of the people of the New Covenant: He is the awaited great Prophet. Around Him must gather "the sons and daughters" of the new Israel (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 9), who, animated by the life-giving Spirit (cf. Ez 37:14), take part personally in the salvific mission of Christ, Priest, Prophet and King, following in His footsteps, throughout the centuries and millennia.

4.

The second Christian millennium is now drawing to a close.

Aware of the "Tertio Millennio adveniente", of the Third Millennium that is approaching, we are gathered in this particular Upper Room of the Church, constituted this evening at the tomb of St Peter. We are looked upon by the almost two millennia that have passed, uniquely witnessed by this place, marked by the tombs of Martyrs and Confessors of the faith. Here we are at the relics of the Apostles, pillars of the Church that is in Rome.

And what happened on Easter evening is being repeated in our midst now. Christ, through the Eucharist, transcends space and time and makes himself present among us, as he did then with the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room. He addresses the same words to us: "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive the Holy Spirit".

5.

Receive the Holy Spirit!

We are gathered to invoke together the gift of the Holy Spirit for the entire ecclesial community of Rome, called to fulfil a demanding mission. With this apostolic initiative, the Church that is in Rome intends to open its arms wide to every person and family in the City and to penetrate like yeast into every social sphere, work, suffering, art and culture, proclaiming and bearing witness to the Risen Lord to those near and far.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, living in this metropolis, which unfortunately does not escape the temptations of secularism, one is as if subtly threatened by fatigue, indifference, spiritual torpor and that relativism in which everything is watered down and confused. That is why the great city mission, which we solemnly inaugurate with this Vigil, is first and foremost addressed to believers. It is first and foremost an entreaty to the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith, renew our fervour, enkindle our charity.

Let not our hearts be troubled by fears and perplexity. On the contrary, counting not on human strength but on the grace that comes from God, let us bring, as witnesses of the truth and love of Christ, the Gospel of hope to every inhabitant of Rome. In this way, we will also be able to influence the culture, the ways of life, the expectations and plans of the entire city community.

6.

Church that you are in Rome, the Lord has loved you with unconditional love. That is why you are rich in spiritual and missionary energies, and many more the Spirit, precisely through mission, will arouse in you.

I address myself first of all to you, dear brothers in the priesthood, consecrated to be the first witnesses of the Gospel and the apostles of truth and unity: be the first tireless workers of the mission, be holy in order to be docile instruments through which God works the sanctification of his people. It is from the parishes that this mission must start, and you of the parish communities are the responsible and qualified animators.

And you, dear men and women religious, called to be the prophetic sign of God's presence, give yourselves with enthusiasm, through prayer and apostolic activities, to this Church in mission. You will find in this very giving the taste of your vocation.

I think of you, dear brothers and sisters, who work patiently in parishes and form the solid fabric of daily pastoral activity, catechesis and the service of charity. Through mission you will be able to find renewed spiritual vigour to transmit the Gospel of Christ in your families and in the environments in which you work. You, dear members of the numerous movements, organisms and ecclesial associations, ensure full and faithful collaboration in the mission of the city, in close agreement with the Pastors, the parishes and the entire diocesan reality.

You, dear young people, put your fresh energies at the service of this great spiritual enterprise, overcoming any possible fear or human respect. Proclaim with boldness and courage your faith in Christ among your peers and friends. From you too, dear sick and suffering people, and from you who feel marginalised, the city's mission expects a contribution that is in a sense decisive for its success. By accepting your condition and offering it to the heavenly Father together with Christ, you can become a providential and mysterious way of salvation for Rome.

The mission belongs to you, dear members of the Roman Curia and my collaborators in the service of the universal Church, called to make your qualified contribution to the life of the Christian Community, which is in Rome, and to the preparation of the Great Jubilee of the Year Two Thousand. Your contribution will also be more important than ever for the success of this vast evangelising action.

The mission is also made for you, dear brothers and sisters who have come to Rome from the most diverse parts of the world. You are now an integral part of our diocesan community. Thank you for being here with us this evening to pray.

May the city mission, after the Diocesan Synod, mark a further step forward in the journey of spiritual growth and communion among all Christians living in our City.

7.

Our gaze, this evening, cannot fail to widen to the expectations of the universal Church, on its way towards the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. The Church seeks to become more aware of the Spirit's presence in her, for the sake of her communion and mission, through sacramental, hierarchical and charismatic gifts.

One of the gifts of the Spirit to our time is certainly the blossoming of the ecclesial movements, which since the beginning of my Pontificate I have continued to point to as a reason for hope for the Church and for mankind. They "are a sign of the freedom of forms, in which the one Church is realised, and represent a sure novelty, which still awaits to be properly understood in all its positive efficacy for the Kingdom of God at work in the present day of history" (Insegnamenti, VII 2[1984], p. 696). Within the framework of the celebrations of the Great Jubilee, especially those of the year 1998, dedicated in a special way to the Holy Spirit and his sanctifying presence within the Community of Christ's disciples (cf. Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 44), I count on the common witness and collaboration of the movements. I trust that they, in communion with the Pastors and in connection with diocesan initiatives, will want to bring to the heart of the Church their spiritual, educational and missionary richness, as a precious experience and proposal of Christian life.

8.

"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit".

Christ, also in the sign of the Gospel Book that this evening I entrust to the Cardinal Vicar so that it may be solemnly displayed in the Basilica of St John Lateran, is present and sustains the path of the great mission that will lead the Ecclesial Community of Rome to the threshold of the third millennium.

"I also send you... ".Lord, as you did at the beginning of the Church's mission, at the dawn of the first millennium, you send us today on a new evangelising mission.

You entrust us with the task of bringing the Good News to the streets and squares of this City; you want your Church to be a pilgrim of hope and peace in the ways of the world.

Sustain our journey with the strength of your Spirit; make us courageous apostles of the Gospel and builders of a new humanity.

Mary, Salus Populi Romani, who accompany with your venerable icon the pilgrimage of this night, guide our steps; obtain for us the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

"Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur". Amen!

[Pope John Paul II, Homily for the Inauguration of the City Mission, in preparation for the Great Jubilee, 25 May 1996]