My Dear People,

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, which marks the official beginning of the Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit which descended upon the apostles on Pentecost Sunday is still guiding the Church today.  The Holy Spirit is guiding the church in two ways. The first is hierarchical and the second is charismatic.  The Hierarchical way is how the Holy Spirit keeps the Church united. The Church is guided through the pope and the bishops. For this reason, whenever there have been difficult issues such as “Mary the Mother of God” and whether “Jesus was fully human and fully Divine” that were, at the time, challenged by some people, even bishops, the Church convened councils in Nicea and Ephesus and declared these official teachings of the Church. The same has been true with other councils and other pronouncements such as “The Immaculate Conception of Mary” that was declared in 1858. In this case Pope Pious IX spoke ex cathedra (from the chair).  When the pope speaks this way he is infallible in matters of faith and morals. The second form the Holy Spirit guides the Church is charismatically, which means that the individuals of the church can rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives and utilize the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, not only for themselves but for the community. With the Charismatic inspiration, the church has the dynamic approach, and this will enable the church to grow.

Jesus appears to the Apostles on the evening of the day on which he rose. He presents himself in their midst without any need for doors to be opened, by using the qualities of his glorified body; but to dispel any impression that he is only a spirit, he shows them his hands and his side; there is no longer any doubt of this being Jesus himself, about his being truly risen from the dead. He greets them twice, using the words of the greeting customary among the Jews, with the same tenderness as he previously used to put into this salutation. These friendly words dispel the fear and shame the Apostles must have been feeling at behaving so disloyally during his passion: he has recreated the normal atmosphere of intimacy, and now he will endow them with transcendental powers. Pope Leo XIII explained how Christ transferred his own mission to the Apostles: “What did he wish regarding the church founded, or about to be founded? This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which he had received from the Father, that they should be perpetuated. This he clearly resolved to do: this he did. ‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you’ (John 20:21). ‘As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world’ (John 17:18).  When about to ascend into heaven, he sends his Apostles in virtue of the same power by which he had been sent from the Father, and he charges them to spread abroad and propagate his teachings, so that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish (sf. Mk. 16:16).   Hence, he commands that the teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it were his own: ‘He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me’ (Luke 10:16).  Wherefore the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ as he is the ambassador of the Father.” (Satis Cognitum). In this mission the bishops are the successors of the Apostles: “Christ sent the Apostles, as he himself had been sent by the Father, and then through the Apostles made their successors, the bishops, sharers in his consecration and mission. The function of the bishops’ ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to the priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfilment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ” (Vatican II, Presbyterorum ordinis, 2).

The Church has always understood—and has in fact defined—that Jesus Christ here conferred on the Apostles authority to forgive sins, a power which is expressed in the sacrament of Penance. “The Lord then especially instructed the sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, he breathed upon his disciples and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. Consensus of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism” (council of Trent, De Paenitentia, Chap. 1).

The sacrament of Penance is the most sublime expression of God’s love and mercy toward men, described so vividly in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. The Lord always awaits us, with his arms wide open, waiting for us to repent—and then he will forgive us and restore us to the dignity of being his children.

The Popes have consistently recommended Christians to have regular recourse to this Sacrament: “For a constant and speedy advancement in the path of virtue we highly recommend the pious practice of frequent confession, introduced by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; for by this means we grow in the true knowledge of ourselves and in Christian humility, bad habits are uprooted, spiritual negligence and apathy are prevented, the conscience is purified and the will strengthened, salutary spiritual direction is obtained, and grace is increased by the efficacy of the sacrament itself” (Pious XII, Misticy Corporis).

Yours in Christ,

 Fr. Vincent Clemente