Pentecost 2020 – Destinations

Solemnity of Pentecost 2020 

Dear Sisters,

The solemnity of Pentecost is a particularly awaited feast for us because we distinguish it for its missionary dimension and for this reason, in the tradition of our Congregation, is the day in which some of us receive the destination for the mission.

At Pentecost, the doors of the Upper Room open, the fear that had kept the disciples indoors now turns into courageous witness.

After the lockdown, the Eleven could have simply resumed life where they had stopped that evening, after the shocking days of the passion, death and resurrection of their Master.

Instead, something happens for the first time in their life: an unprecedented experience of the Spirit makes them new, free and courageous men; makes them missionaries! Jesus had announced it to them: “when the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf, and you also are to testify” (Jn 15:26-27). Thus, at Pentecost, the Word begins its course and starting from Jerusalem, it is announced throughout the centuries to men and women, in any place and situation, so that they may experience the personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

We too today, after the severe test of a pandemic whose end we still do not foresee, could be simply in a hurry to return to the normalcy, taking everything as before. More wisely, however, we have the opportunity to live this historic moment by trying together to grasp the Lord’s invitations, the “good news” that he has in store for us and for humanity, as we go through this painful experience.

This calamity has brought to our awareness many false securities, our limits in setting times and norms, and the need to discover what is truly essential and humanizing … This, through a slower pace of life, is certainly a propitious time to grasp new insights, discover new calls from the Lord.

In the slow and gradual recovery that we all wish for, I believe that all of us have a common need for a space for discussion, in which to give consistency to our feelings and seek together the answers to the questions that have remained unspoken. It would be nice in this “historic and unique Pentecost” to share the answer to a simple but profound question: “What experience of the Spirit did we have in this time?”

If we will be open to the attentive and sincere listening of each other, we will participate in a true miracle, which will not consist in the multiplicity of languages, as in the Pentecost of Jerusalem. But, in the common and deep understanding of a word, an intuition, of a shared experience, which is a gift of the Spirit to continue to live the grace of the charism in various human, cultural and faith contexts in which we are present.

For this, let us ask the Lord the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of wisdom that teaches us to look with the eyes of God, to feel with the heart of God, to speak with the words of God.

With gratitude, affection and humility, I remain united to all of you together with Mary and the apostles, gathered in the Upper Room, imploring the gift of the Spirit, especially on the sisters destined today: