“The Holy Spirit works to bring all of humanity back to God. What was dispersed at the Tower of Babel is brought back together at Pentecost.”
The Holy Spirit is revealed to us in many forms. At Pentecost the Spirit is wind and fire but it can also come to us by stirring our hearts with a quiet inner voice. In whatever form we encounter, the Spirit always leads us to a deeper understanding of Christ.
The Spirit is the fire and storm that burns our hearts and impels us to speak, to spread the Truth as we have received it, and in turn ignite the hearts of those who hear us.
Through us the Holy Spirit works to bring all of humanity back to God. What was dispersed at the Tower of Babel is brought back together at Pentecost.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Unites
The story of the miraculous image of “Our Lady of Guadalupe” is fairly well known. But less well known are the circumstances in Mexico leading up to the image.
Before Columbus arrived in America, Mexico was a naturally beautiful but morally darkened world. The ruling Aztecs made great leaps in engineering, but their civilization rested on a pagan religion that demanded continual, and violent, human sacrifices.
In 1521 Mexico was conquered by the Spanish, bringing an end to the pagan worship practices and gratuitous slaughter.
This was a remarkable time when two entirely different cultures lived and worked side by side. But it was not a peaceful time. The devil does not give up so easily and a conquered people as proud as the Aztecs did not easily submit to european rule.
The Spanish had a difficult time bringing the Christian faith to the natives, due to a few prominent European colonists who gave a bad personal example and ruthlessly exploited the conquered population. The Bishop of Mexico City wrote that unless God directly intervened, there would be no way to convert the Mexican people.
Historians believe that by 1531 a revolt among the former Aztecs was a very real possibility. Had this happened it would have set off a chain of violence ending in mass genocide for both Spanish and Aztecs.
Just then the Virgin Mary appeared to a little indian named Juan Diego, and her message and her image touched both the Europeans and the natives so tenderly that a mass conversion followed.
The image itself combines a number of symbols from both Aztec and Spanish culture that drew the two peoples together.
The Work of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit continues to work to bring us together. God may from time to time give us subtle miracles such as the miraculous image of “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” or He may send us more spectacular events such as the wind and fire of Pentecost. But mostly The Holy Spirit works quietly through each individual so that all who listen hear the message in a language they know by heart.
Each of us have the ability to convey God’s message to someone else in a way that no one else can. It may be that our purpose here on Earth is to save one soul, bringing that one person to eternal life.
Pax Vobiscum
Pentecost Sunday