The disciples, men and women, were there together because the resurrected Jesus had told them to return to the city and and not to leave until they felt clothed with power from on high. They didn't hide out in separate houses, waiting for whatever God had decreed about their future; they chose to wait together. As we, like them, wait together at church services, and meetings, and faith sharing groups, wondering what God has decreed about the future of our churches.
But here's what's important: the power of the Holy Spirit descended on those early disciples because, in spite of their confusion and uncertainty, they had stayed together gathered in hopeful prayer. Peter Maurin, who helped Dorothy Day found "The Catholic Worker," once said "When you don't know what else to do, keep going to meetings because Pentecost happened at a meeting!"
"He (Peter Maurin) is right," comments Fr. Ronald Rolheiser in his book "Sacred Fire." "Pentecost did not happen to a solitary man or woman, praying on a mountaintop, in a church, in a desert, or under a tree. It happened to a group of men and women at a church meeting. Moreover, it did not happen at a triumphal church meeting, where men and women were sure of themselves as they praised God in confidence. It happened at a church meeting where men and women, frightened for their future, were huddled in fear, confusion, and uncertainty, but were gathered in faith and fidelity despite their fears....waiting...for something new to happen to them, for new fire, for a new vision and a new energy from beyond."
Today, it can be easy to lose heart, to struggle to remain committed, as our values and faith seem to be crucified: many Christian denominations face declining church attendance, agnosticism and atheism, a culture which grows more selfish, immoral, and amoral, children who are often indifferent to the importance of church community. When it is so hard to pass our faith on, we often ask ourselves: what should we be doing?
First, we can remember with hope and joy that Jesus promised to remain with his Church until the end of time! And - he promised to send us his Holy Spirit to fill us with gifts of courage, love, peace, joy, and enthusiasm to spread the life-giving Word of the Gospel. So - what should we do?
Fr. Rolheiser responds:
"Biblically, this is the answer: return to the city and remain in the Upper Room! What is meant by that? In Luke's Gospel,... 'the city' refers to Jerusalem, which itself is an image for the church and the faith dream that Jesus had instilled. To walk away from Jerusalem,as the disciples were doing in walking toward Emmaus, was to walk away from the church and from their faith dream. And so the invitation to mature disciples today is the same as it was for that first generation of disciples who were fearful and confused as they faced Jesus' departure: Return to the city, return to your faith dream! Go and wait with one another in the Upper Room!
"Thus our faith circles, church services, and ecclesial meetings are, in effect, the Upper Room. And that Upper Room has many modalities: beyond our regular church services we have ecclesial meetings of every kind, Bible studies, ecumenical meetings, religious congresses, pastoral institutes, catechism classes, social justice commissions, institutes on spirituality, religious retreats, international synods on missiology, small faith-sharing groups, and men and women everywhere praying in churches, kitchens, and monasteries, asking for a new fire from beyond. All these activities, all these things we do in our faith circles, put us into the Upper Room."
I have worked for the Catholic Church for many years, for six at the Diocesan level, since I have a Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry from our Seminary, Christ the King in East Aurora. In my ministry in our Diocesan Religious Education Department, I traveled the length and width of our large Diocese, to parishes in the city, in suburbs, and in rural areas. I met with people and Pastors in luxurious, air conditioned Ministry areas and in sweltering church basements, and everywhere I traveled, I always knew I was in the Presence of the Holy Spirit, brooding over us with bright wings. The Upper Room does not depend on geography, social class, or ethnicity. The Spirit is summoned by a people who may be bowed, but who are not broken; who may be struggling with their faith, but are not faithless. The Spirit descends on people who are gathered together united in humility, service, and love.
But, although I am sure we all live in wonderful church communities, we also have to examine our "community consciences" on a regular basis. No Church is perfect; we're all a little out of balance. So we can ask ourselves these and similar questions to see how ready our Upper Rooms are for the coming of the Holy Spirit:
Does our church speak of God, but it has unwittingly embraced the world's values of power, success, and money? In our church, do our Pastor and leaders worry more about how many millions they have in the bank, rather than commit themselves to building their people up in humility, love, prayer, and service?
Does our suburban church forget the church's mandate to aid their poor brothers and sisters in faith in the city because parishioners still nurse anger and bitterness at those of a different color who moved into their former city neighborhoods?
Does our church concentrate more on building up an active social life than on building up prayer and social justice projects?
Does our church community engage in many works of charity and social justice, but offer few opportunities for prayer groups and Bible study?
Does our church, instead of uniting in love and a shared vision of service, unite instead in a common fear, distrust, and rejection of the outsider and foreigner?
We churches need to prayerfully examine our priorities and our mission to see how in or out of balance we are. We are never saved without prayer. We are never saved alone. We are saved in a prayerful community of service, and Jesus challenges us to constantly re-examine whom we include in our community. Do we only serve ourselves, people in our geographical area, people who are "like us?" If our mission is to preach and spread the Word of God, people will never believe in a loving God speaking to them through us unless we show God's love for them through our actions.
Peter Maurin, who knew the Holy Spirit is present to ignite us wherever we meet in faith and prayer, lived in a community, the Catholic Worker movement, which numbered - and numbers - among its members the rich, poor, straight, gay, homeless, mentally and physically ill, the addict, those with disabilities. No one considered him or herself "better" or "holier" than anyone else. I venture to say that that is why Maurin had such faith in the ongoing fire, vision, and work of the Holy Spirit: his community always provided humble, prayer-filled, faith-filled, service-filled Upper Rooms.
Pope St. John Paul II had this to say about Pentecost:
"The Church of Christ is always, so to speak, in a situation of Pentecost: she is always gathered in the Upper Room in prayer, and, at the same time, driven by the powerful Wind of the Spirit, she is always on the street preaching....Indeed the event of grace at Pentecost has continued to bear its marvelous fruits, everywhere instilling apostolic zeal, a desire for contemplation, the commitment to love and serve God and our brothers and sisters with complete dedication."
Come, Holy Spirit, help us to trust that our future is safe in Your Hands. Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle the hearts of we, your faithful, with the power of Your Divine Love. Help us to be open to receive all Your gifts. Help us expand our Upper Rooms till they contain the communities You have planned for us to become. Help us to spread our precious Faith to our families and our society. May we preach Your Word with our words and our lives. May we continue to meet in faith in Your Work with us, in us, and among us. And may we see the face of Christ in all who come to our meetings!