Sermon on the Vigil of Pentecost
May 27, 2023
https://www.marcotosatti.com/2023/05/28/vigilia-di-pentecoste-omelia-di-mons-vigano-lottiamo-con-entusiasmo/
Qui diceris Paraclitus, Altissimi donum Dei.
Hymn. Veni, Creator
We celebrate today the Vigil of Pentecost. The ancient baptismal liturgy of this day, which was abolished with the 1955 reform, has recently been brought back into use by many communities following the Tridentine rite, moreover with the permission of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. The reason for this decision is that the authors of Pius XII's Ordo Hebdomadæ Sanctæ instauratus are the same as those of John XXIII's Rubricarum Instructum and Paul VI's Novus Ordo Missæ. With a view to recovering the treasures of the Traditional Rite, it is therefore understandable this rediscovery not only of the pre-1955 Holy Week, but also of the symbolic Pentecost liturgy, called Easter of Roses in memory of the ancient custom of dropping from the vault of our churches a shower of rose petals, which were meant to represent the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit. This still occurs in the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres, the Roman Pantheon.
Its baptismal character recalls the Easter Vigil, so that catechumens who had not received Baptism on Holy Saturday-for example, because they were not yet ready or sick-could be admitted among the neophytes during today's solemn service. This ancient rite contemplates the blessing of the Sacred Font and the conferring of the sacramental washing, and reminds us of the solicitude of the Holy Church, which is Master in demanding the due preparation of candidates for Baptism, and Mother in granting them another opportunity at the conclusion of the Easter season. The reading of the prophecies constitutes, according to Dom Guéranger, an obvious reference to Holy Saturday, with the double symbolism of the Jєωιѕн Passover and Pentecost being fulfilled in the Christian Passover and Pentecost.
Certainly the great Pius XII, toward whom we have a profound veneration, had no way of grasping in those first steps of the renouveau liturgique, begun since the 1920s, the threat that would later become evident with the so-called "conciliar reform." This is why the recovery of the pre-1955 rites does not in the least question his Pontificate, nor his love for the Roman Liturgy. Rather, we can recognize the diabolical cunning with which the Novators acted, who by small steps undermined the priceless treasure of Catholic worship. Instead of disclosing this patrimony, the fruit of centuries of harmonious development, they found it more convenient to simplify them, demonstrating in this not only a mentality wholly alien to a true understanding of the divine Liturgy, but also a substantial contempt for God's holy people, wrongly considered incapable of nourishing themselves spiritually by drawing on it. But this, let it be clear, was still a pretext, an excuse - the actuosa participatio, the active participation of the faithful - behind which lay the will to unhinge the Faith, the lex credendi, through the tampering with its prayerful expression, the lex orandi.
Ultimately, the Novators reveal their lack of trust in the action of Grace infused by the Holy Spirit - which also works through the Liturgy - and in man's ability to correspond to it. In their mentality, nothing must test us, nothing must represent an opportunity for improvement: everything must be within the reach of all, no treasure must be disclosed to those they deem mediocre and ignorant; which betrays their proud persuasion that they are superior to their flock. This presumptuous classism is not limited to outward matters, but also extends to inner matters, so that for them ignorance of the Faith, indolent accommodation of Morality, laziness in Spirituality and Asceticism must be the rule for a mass they have no desire to lead, to instruct, to admonish. Too much effort, for those who first do not believe, do not love, do not hope. Too much effort, for those who are busy building a church in their own image, considering the Church of Christ and its Liturgy old and impractical. That is why they depersonalize individuals and annihilate them into a faceless and unwilling assembly on which to impose a horizontal vision devoid of supernatural yearning, in the certainty-which we moreover have before our eyes-that a rite expressing another ecclesiological and doctrinal vision would end up changing the Faith of those who would attend it.
Conversely, good Pastors are the first who, in the wake of Tradition and in the constant and humble practice of what they preach, have the task of pointing out great goals to the souls entrusted to them. Be holy, as holy is your Father (Mt. 5:48), Our Lord exhorts us. And this holiness, which is made up of heroism (even silent heroism) and generous surrender to God's will, is the response to Grace, which makes it possible for God to do what we alone could never accomplish. And today, with the conferring of Holy Confirmation on young Gabriel, we have proof of this: the Lord, who calls us to be children of the eternal Father and living members of the Church through Baptism, makes us in the Sacrament of Confirmation soldiers of Christ, ready to fight the good fight. But He does not leave us alone in this trial: He provides us with the spiritual weapons with which to confront the Enemy of our soul. The Holy Spirit gives us these most powerful weapons -- free of charge, like everything that comes from God -- precisely in Confirmation and in all the Sacraments: the armor of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the footwear of preaching, the shield of Faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the training of prayer, the gymnasium of fasting and penance (Eph. 6:10-20).
Let us not be proud of what the Lord allows us to be, nor of the successes that because of Him we achieve; but let us also not be discouraged by our failures, by our weakness, by inexperience in handling these weapons or lack of dexterity in wielding them. Rather, let us repeat with St. Paul: all things I can in him who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13).
On this solemn Vigil that prepares us for the descent of the Paraclete, let us invoke the Holy Spirit with the confidence of one who knows with realism and humility his own weakness, but also the infinite power of the Lord God of arrayed armies, and that no less tremendous power of our august Conductress, Mary Most Holy, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata. The spiritual war we fight against the world, the flesh and the devil was won on the Cross, where Our Lord and God defeated the enemy; where the blessed lineage of the Woman crowned with stars and clothed with the sun crushed the head of the ancient Serpent. It will know total victory at the end of time, when again the Woman announced in Genesis and the fruit of Her womb will exterminate the Antichrist and Satan. We are in the midst of this epochal conflict, and if we want to triumph with Christ and His Most Holy Mother, we must fight enthusiastically under the glorious insignia of our King, protected by the armor that the Holy Spirit - παράκλητος, that is, defender, counselor and advocate - makes available to us, precipitously with the Grace conferred in Confirmation.
We have high ideals, great challenges, exciting duels to face. The young Gabriel, whom the Church enlists in its ranks as miles Christi, will have some, with God's help, equipping him with all the spiritual equipment he needs, providing him with the care of Confession, nourishing his strength and vigor with the supernatural Food of the Most Holy Eucharist. Gabriel: God's strength. The Holy Spirit will also bestow on you-as He has given and continues to bestow on each of us-His Gifts, the sacred Septuagint: wisdom, intellect, counsel, fortitude, science, piety, and the fear of God.
Therefore, let us not be discouraged by those who want us weak and disarmed, resigned and ignorant, so that they can better bring us down and overcome us: let us rather put all our hope in God, who calls us to the heroism of holiness because He wants us at His right hand on the glorious day of victory, when He will set His enemies as the footstool of His feet (Ps. 109:2). So be it.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
May 27, 2023
Sabbath in Vigilia Pentecostes