Vatican City, May 31, 2020 / 05:15 am (CNA).- Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ Pentecost Sunday homily, delivered May 31, 2020, at the Basilica of St. Peter, and checked against delivery.
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4), as the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians. He continues: “There are different forms of service, but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone” (vv. 5- 6). Diversity and unity: St. Paul puts together two words that seem contradictory. He wants to tell us that the Holy Spirit is the one who brings together the many; and that the Church was born this way: we are all different, yet united by the same Holy Spirit.
Let us go back to the origin of the Church, to the day of Pentecost. Let us look at the Apostles: some of them were fishermen, simple people accustomed to living by the work of their hands, but there were also others, like Matthew, who was an educated tax collector. They were from different backgrounds and social contexts, and they had Hebrew and Greek names. In terms of character, some were meek and others were excitable; they all had different ideas and sensibilities. They were all different. Jesus did not change them; he did not make them into a set of pre-packaged models. He left their differences and now he unites them by anointing them with the Holy Spirit. The union comes with the anointing. At Pentecost, the Apostles understand the unifying power of the Spirit. They see it with their own eyes when everyone, though speaking in different languages, comes together as one people: the people of God, shaped by the Spirit, who weaves unity from diversity and bestows harmony because there is harmony in the Spirit. He himself is harmony.
Let us now focus on ourselves, the Church of today. We can ask ourselves: “What is it that unites us, what is the basis of our unity?” We too have our differences, for example: of opinions, choices, sensibilities. But the temptation is always fiercely to defend our ideas, believing them to be good for everybody and agreeing only with those who think as we do. And that’s a bad temptation that divides. But this is a faith created in our own image; it is not what the Spirit wants. We might think that what unite us are our beliefs and our morality. But there is much more: our principle of unity is the Holy Spirit. He reminds us that first of all we are God’s beloved children, all the same, in this, and all different. The Spirit comes to us, in our differences and difficulties, to tell us that we have one Lord — Jesus — and one Father, and that for this reason we are brothers and sisters! Let us begin anew from here; let us look at the Church with the eyes of the Spirit and not as the world does. The world sees us only as on the right or left, with this ideology, with that one; the Spirit sees us as sons and daughters of the Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus. The world sees conservatives and progressives; the Spirit sees children of God. A worldly gaze sees structures to be made more efficient; a spiritual gaze sees brothers and sisters pleading for mercy. The Spirit loves us and knows everyone’s place in the grand scheme of things: for him, we are not bits of confetti blown about by the wind, rather we are irreplaceable fragments in his mosaic.
If we go back to the day of Pentecost, we discover that the first task of the Church is proclamation. Yet we see that the Apostles do not prepare a strategy; when they were shut in there, in the Upper Room, they did not make a strategy, no, they do not prepare a pastoral plan. They could have divided people into groups according to their roots, speaking first to those close by and then to those far away… They could have also waited a while before beginning their preaching in order to understand more deeply the teachings of Jesus, so as to avoid risks… No. The Spirit does not want the memory of the Master to be cultivated in small groups locked in upper rooms where it is easy to “nest.” And this is a bad disease that can come to the Church: the Church not as a community, not as a family, not as a mother, but as a nest. He opens doors and pushes us to press beyond what has already been said and done, beyond the precincts of a timid and wary faith. In the world, unless there is tight organization and a clear strategy, things fall apart. In the Church, however, the Spirit guarantees unity to those who proclaim the message. The Apostles set off: unprepared, yet putting their lives on the line. One thing kept them going: the desire to give what they received. The beginning of the First Letter of John is beautiful: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you” (1 John 1:3).
Here we come to understand what the secret of unity is, the secret of the Spirit. It is gift. For the Spirit himself is gift: he lives by giving himself and in this way he keeps us together, making us sharers in the same gift. It is important to believe that God is gift, that he acts not by taking away, but by giving. Why is this important? Because our way of being believers depends on how we understand God. If we have in mind a God who takes away and imposes himself, we too will want to take away and impose ourselves: occupying spaces, demanding recognition, seeking power. But if we have in our hearts a God who is gift, everything changes. If we realize that what we are is his gift, free and unmerited, then we too will want to make our lives a gift. By loving humbly, serving freely and joyfully, we will offer to the world the true image of God. The Spirit, the living memory of the Church, reminds us that we are born from a gift and that we grow by giving: not by holding on but by giving of ourselves.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us look within and ask ourselves what prevents us from giving ourselves. There are, let us say, three enemies of the gift — the main ones, three — always lurking at the door of our hearts: narcissism, victimhood and pessimism. Narcissism makes us idolize ourselves, to be concerned only with what is good for us. The narcissist thinks: “Life is good if I profit from it.” So he or she ends up saying: “Why should I give myself to others?” In this time of pandemic, how wrong narcissism is: the tendency to think only of our own needs, to be indifferent to those of others, and not to admit our own frailties and mistakes. But the second enemy, victimhood, is equally dangerous. Victims complain every day about their neighbour: “No one understands me, no one helps me, no one loves me, everyone has it in for me!” The victim’s heart is closed, as he or she asks, “Why aren’t others concerned about me?” In the crisis we are experiencing, how ugly victimhood is! Thinking that no one understands us and experiences what we experience. Finally, there is pessimism. Here the unending complaint is: “Nothing is going well, society, politics, the Church…” The pessimist gets angry with the world, but sits back and does nothing, thinking: “What good is giving? That is useless.” At this moment, in the great effort of beginning anew, how damaging is pessimism, the tendency to see everything in the worst light and to keep saying that nothing will return as before! When someone thinks this way, the one thing that certainly does not return is hope. In these three — the narcissistic idol of the mirror, the ‘mirror-god;’ ‘I feel like a person with grievances;’ and the ‘god-negativity,’ ‘everything is black, everything is dark’ — we find ourselves in the famine of hope and we need to appreciate the gift of life, the gift that each of us is. Therefore we need the Holy Spirit, God’s gift that heals us from narcissism, victimhood and pessimism, heals us from the mirror, from grievances and darkness.
Brothers and sister, let us pray to him: Holy Spirit, memory of God, revive in us the memory of the gift received. Free us from the paralysis of selfishness and awaken in us the desire to serve, to do good. Even worse than this crisis is the tragedy of squandering it by closing in on ourselves. Come, Holy Spirit: you are harmony; make us builders of unity. You always give yourself; grant us the courage to go out of ourselves, to love and help each other, in order to become one family. Amen.
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What bravery…. Having been persecuted in his diocese, he was persecuted by his Church, with nothing to lose, he speaks truth! May God grant him good health and many more years.
I am greatly heartened — and totally relieved — that Cardinal Zen has said what needed to be said about Bergoglio’s synodolatry scam.
This is a historic moment for our Church.
Using the worthy cardinal, the Holy Spirit has deigned to spare us from sheer evil once again.
Thanks be to God.
Amen!
We read that the synodal process was an “insult to the dignity of the bishops,” that the Orthodox Churches will never accept such a process having “the importance of the Synod of Bishops,” and that “some cardinals wanted the concept of synodality to be further clarified.”
Two clarifying comments and a clarifying question:
FIRST, from the back bleachers, this proposed clarification: All it takes is a few termites below the waterline…
…As in the fatal opening-wedge footnote in Amoris Laetitia (2015), or the upending wording in the synodality Vademecum (2020) casting the diocesan Successors of the Apostles “primarily as facilitators”, or the officiously “unofficial, spontaneous, non-scandalous blessing” of “irregular couples” slipped into Fiducia Supplicans (2024), or the gratuitous few words “never appropriate” slipped into Mater Populi Fidelis (2025) and requiring immediate clarification.
SECOND, “synodality” must be decisively clarified as a “style” of interpersonal engagement rather than an insidious project to replace the balanced and “hierarchical communion” structure of the Church (Lumen Gentium) with what Cardinal Zen accurately sees as a halfway-house model into post-Catholic congregationalism.
THIRD, considering the body language of the Church—even without actual words—now might we be finally relieved that the current and proposed annual “consistories of cardinals” replaces (!) the recent synodal proposal (early 2025) for another structured (not merely a needed interpersonal “style”) round of geographic “synods”—diocesan, regional, continental—all institutionalizing a self-validating and grand finale synod-on-a-synod-on synodality “ecclesial assembly” in 2028?
The process IS the message?
SUMMARY: Consistories of ALL cardinals and not simply the well-placed/replaceable termites(?)–partly to advance greater/restored harmony among the Holy See’s internal dicasteries, and guarding the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church from ever being annexed into an emerging “spheres of influence” model of global politics. Westphalia (1648) with the earlier Henry XIII and the later der Synodal Weg has been bad enough.
The charity of clarity…
Typo: Henry VIII.
Cardinal Joseph Zen is a holy bishop, a forthright and honest man, a courageous seeker of the truth and tells it like it is. When he was Bishop of Hong Kong, he fought for his people. He, along with his friend, Jimmy Lai, has been a thorn in the side of the CPP (Chinese Communist Party) for years. They even arrested him in 2020 on some trumped-up “collusion with foreign policy charge” under their new “security law” in order to muzzle his critiques of their communist regime and persecution of Catholics. This man is a fighter and a staunch Catholic.
As for “synodality”, it is a concept which does not mesh with Saint Pope Paul VI’s vision. The synod of bishops which Paul VI had established is no longer a synod of bishops; under Pope Francis, it has become a get-together of lay people, who think they can change two thousand years of Catholicism.
What is wrong with just following the teachings of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus-Christ? What is wrong with following the Fathers of the Church? Bishops are supposed to lead their flock to Christ. What is this kowtowing to the whims and desires of every Tom, Dick and Harry who has an opinion on how the Church should change? “Listening” to the people can be a two-edged sword. In my own parish, more than half the parishioners are in favor of LGBTQ rights, women priests and deacons, etc…Yet, they are the first ones to get in line for communion (handed out by a lay woman no less, under the pretext of helping the priest).
Kudos to Cardinal Zen for speaking out.
May God bless this holy man, as well as bless the man he baptized, Jimmy Lai, for standing up for the truth.
Marie Brousseau: Catholic, Biologist, Essayist, Teacher, Writer
Catholic Author of “Defending Human Dignity: Catholic Answers to Gender, Abortion and Relativity
mariebrousseau.com
Great comments.
Should we know? Closed meeting, confidentiality?
If Cardinal Zen wants to share the text of his intervention, then I do not see a problem. He provided the text to the College of Cardinals Report and gave them permission to publish it.
As one of the senior members of the College of Cardinals, he has been through more consistories than the vast majority of current cardinals. So he should be thoroughly aware of the rules, guidelines and expectations.
What is the problem that you see?
Yes, we should. Sunlight disinfects.
Cardinal Zen is a good and faithful shepherd, who lays down his life for his flock.
So is Bishop Strickland.
I note that the managers and mouthpieces of the Church establishment are mute when confronted by the truth spoken by Cardinal Zen. His testimony is public, and their meetings must be secret.
As one contributor to CWR said in his book on the sex abuse coverup operations by the Church Establishment: “Everything Hidden Shall Be Revealed.”
Throughout the history of our faith, an outgrowth of our Jewish roots, the prophet has stood alone proclaiming the truth to those who need to hear it. He stands alone proclaiming what needs to be said to those who don’t want to hear it. The genuineness of his message is often vindicated after his passing when it is either fulfilled or heeded. Now that the seed has been sown, time will prove its worth by its fruit. Our ears should be burning as we just overheard a private conversation that was not meant for us to hear. I just pray that we, the laymen (gender inclusive) stay out of it and allow the Cardinals to prayerfully ponder the message. The Holy Spirit does not need the pressure of lobby groups- Synodality?
How cunning the evil one. Prudence stays silent waiting for Wisdom. Wisdom speaks in Wisdom’s time. Let faith not falter. Jesus Christ is Lord !!!
Cardinal Zen openly and correctly voices what other cardinals hold, yet remain silent. Others are befuddled, trying to find just rationale in what Synodality means while wanting to be faithful to our new Roman pontiff’s adherence to Bergoglian Church philosophy.
It’s a losing scenario, a true predicament for the Church. What would synodality’s inventor and founder of the dreaded St Gallen Group, deceased Cardinal Carlo Martini say? We don’t require a seance to find out because we know by what his protege Archbishop Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio intended – to paradigmatically reconfigure the Church structurally and doctrinally. But how then do we respond to Leo XIV?
One would have thought [actually meaning myself] that he would slowly and quietly ease us out of its web-like entanglement. Bishops seek to perceive their purpose in a Church that means being Church is being Synodal. What does that say when the laity and the Holy Spirit [although with gracious magnanimity awakened bishops] if not some unexpected surprise?
As it goes our eldest, active prelate Zen at 93 is increasing in wisdom while some of our younger bishops are just plain dense. Although they’re expected to grow up.
Yes, “One would have thought […] that he [Leo] would slowly and quietly ease us out of its web-like entanglement.”
Three supportive comments:
FIRST, my outlier proposal (above) is that recurring consistories of ALL cardinals—one now, another announced in six months, and others announced annually—is such an easing step. A substitute for another proposed two-year round of parallel, layered and geographical “synodal” thingies….
SECOND, otherwise, regarding clerical imitations of silent cigar-store-Indians, the novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac offers a diagnosis: “bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pigmies.” But, least the poster-child/court-jester and dicasterial communications advisor Fr. Jimmy Martin SJ wasn’t given a photo-op with cardinals X, Y and Z. (insert the names).
THIRD, to further clarify the meaning of “synodality,” do the lay-clerical and more-or-less autonomous synods—diocesan, regional, and then continental—suggest a parallelism less with the autocephalous Orthodox Churches and more with resurgent and intrusive Islam?
The self-understanding of very sectarian Islam is as a “congregational theocracy.” So, why not a harmonized “congregational ecclesiology”?
“bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pigmies.”
I prefer Robert Conquest’s quote as it addresses the the machinations of bureaucracies. One should never under estimate bureaucrats. They may not be intelligent, but they are shrewd, opportunistic and generally will use those powers to exploit loopholes or others.
“The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.”
― Robert Conquest
If of course Light Shoes Jimmy Martin gets his way, the parallelism won’t be with Islam or Orthodoxy, but with Out Magazine.
His Eminences makes many interesting points, including wondering if a Synod subset really expected that their fervor for the supremacy of homosexual culture would be mistaken for a Pentecostal inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
If only Pope Leo XIV had said what Cardinal Zen had said… or at least something like, “Let’s put Synodality in the rear view mirror and move on.”
The degree to which Pope Leo embraces or continues Synodality, will largely define his Papacy. There’s a risky road ahead for him and the Church.
What a man! What a cardinal! If only there were more like him. Given the extent to which he stands out, it shows how few there are like him.
God reward Cardinal Zen. Apparently one need live under the thumb of genocidal Marxism to have spine and learn to speak the plain unvarnished truth. One would hope that the marriage of devotion, intellect, experience and common sense would have come from the American Pope. Is it too much to hope that eventually it will? Or do we have to wait for the collapse of Western Civilization for the wake-up call penetrate those ears?
PF, unlike his 260+ predecessors, was the pope wearing new clothes. Cardinal Zen has the cajones to say that PF was theologically, morally, intellectually and managerially barren and bereft of qualification for the Holy Office he occupied.
The clothes, (documents, decisions, et al), of the dead pope need to be declared null, void and forever reversed.
Go ahead, ask me how I really feel!
He is correct. Pope Leo needs to wake up and acknowledge reality.
So essentially one brave Chinese man is left standing against overwhelming force-as if it’s 1989 all over again. Only he is willing to defend the proposition that the Church’s mandate is to make disciples of the world, not mutilate itself to become a disciple of the world.
May God Bless him with health, vitality and a peaceful death when it is his time.