The Church’s first Pentecost had some amazing fireworks. The disciples were gathered in the Upper Room with all the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. Suddenly, a great noise like a tornado came down from the sky and entered the room with flames of fire. The flames split apart and flew through the air until they came to rest on each of the disciples.
But the fireworks didn’t stop there. All of a sudden everyone in the room started speaking languages they didn’t know before. A crowd had gathered in the Temple area with visitors from all over the world, and all of them heard the Gospel message explained to them in their own language. It was, indeed, a dramatic display of God’s amazing power.
But we’d be wrong to conclude from our first Pentecost that this is the normal way Holy Spirit works in our life and in the Church. Actually, the opposite is true. God’s action in our life is usually gentle and quiet, but His work still produces within us powerful results just like the first Pentecost. The Holy Spirit’s most important work is done quietly, because it consists of changing hearts. And that’s something that can only happen in an intimate encounter between God and the soul.
St John Gualbert experiences a conversion
The story of St John Gualbert is a beautiful example of this. He founded a monastery near Florence, Italy, in the 11th Century, that has been a factory of holiness even to this day. But John didn’t start out as a saint. He was a young nobleman who thoroughly enjoyed all his aristocratic privileges. Although he loved to indulge in all the earthly pleasures he could find, of the time, his main passion was revenge.
You see, his older brother had been murdered, and John felt it was his duty to avenge him. For a long time he searched for his brother’s murderer, becoming angrier the longer he searched. Well, one Good Friday as he was making his way through a narrow pass in the road on his way home, he saw his enemy enter the same pass from the other side—and there was no escape. John drew his sword and prepared to avenge his brother’s death. But the man immediately got on his knees and begged for mercy. At that very moment, with his sword raised over his enemy’s neck, the thought of Christ forgiving his enemies while hanging on the Cross, came to his mind. He put his sword away, embraced his brother’s murderer, and forgave him.
Afterward, he went to a nearby church. It was there, while in quiet prayer, that John discovered his vocation and began the wonderful adventure of becoming a saint. Just the thought of Christ on the Cross, just a quiet little thought nudging his conscience—that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s how God builds up his Kingdom.
The Example of Mary
Consider the example of Mary. We’re told that Mary was there in the Upper Room waiting with the Apostles for the coming of the Holy Spirit. She had given birth to Jesus, the head of the Church, and now she is helping to give birth to the rest of the body of the Church at Pentecost.
What was she doing exactly? Praying quietly with the disciples, cooking for them, serving them and comforting them in the midst of their confusion doubt. And above all, contemplating everything that had happened in her life beginning with salutation from the Archangel Gabriel, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you,” to the horrible crucifixion of her Son on the Cross.
This is the key. To contemplate is to go over an idea in the silence of your heart while sharing this idea with God. That’s what Mary was always doing. Becoming the spouse of the Holy Spirit didn’t bring fireworks into her life; it brought meaning, mission, wisdom, courage—virtues that can only take root and grow in the quiet center of your soul. Quiet, gentle, unseen, yet powerful, transforming, and everlasting - that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta said it perfectly: “God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.