Bishop Schneider on Pentecost: ‘there is only one Church of God’
The bishop delivered his Pentecost homily during the annual Latin Mass pilgrimage to Chartres, for 19,000 people.
Editor’s note: Below is the homily given by Bishop Athanasius Schneider on Pentecost Sunday, for the 19,000 pilgrims of the Notre Dame de Chrétienne Latin Mass pilgrimage. Given originally in French, it is translated from the livestream and produced below.
CHARTRES (PerMariam) — In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
The day of Pentecost is the day when the Church manifested Herself to men in a striking way. She manifested herself as Catholic because there is only one Church of God, and that is the Catholic Church.
In fact, the Holy Spirit makes Christ live on earth in his body, the Church. At Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus – like the cells of a body – became the mystical body of Christ enlivened by his Holy Spirit, governed by a visible head Peter, and presided over by an invisible head, Jesus Christ.
In the same way that a drop of blood cannot live outside the body, so too one cannot live the fullness of Christ's life without being in his mystical body, in the Catholic Church.
The Church is not a mere human organization – an NGO, a multinational corporation – but the mystical body of Christ.
Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars, said that without the Holy Spirit, we are like a stone on the road. Take a sponge in one hand, filled with water, and in the other a small stone. Squeeze them together. Nothing will come out of the stone, but from the sponge you will squeeze out water in abundance.
The sponge is the soul filled with the Holy Spirit, and the pebble is the cold and hard heart where the Holy Spirit does not dwell.
It is the Holy Spirit who forms thoughts in the hearts of the righteous and who brings forth the words from their mouths. When we have the Holy Spirit, the heart dilates and is bathed in divine love.
The Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to distinguish between true and false, and between good and evil; just as glasses magnify objects, the Holy Spirit enables us to see good and evil in a magnified form.
If it were not for the Holy Spirit, there is no substance or flavor in anything we do, said the holy priest of Ars.
We must thank the Spirit of Truth for making known to us the law of the Gospel, and what is the law of the Gospel? It is the true and full Catholic faith, solemnly promulgated for the first time by the Church on the day of Pentecost.
The traditional rite of the Holy Mass, which we have the grace and joy of celebrating here today, perhaps can be called in some respects the Pentecostal rite because this rite is the true Catholic expression of devotion to the Holy Spirit, which consists in being filled soberly.
The traditional rite of the Holy Mass offers us the spiritual atmosphere of having a heart that is ardent, while remaining sober and orderly, guided by reason illuminated by faith, and also by dignity and external beauty.
The traditional rite of the Holy Mass reflects all of this in an impressive way, and for this reason, this rite attracts the souls of young people, who are the future of the Church.
It is the rite loved and preserved by countless generations of Catholics.
That is why the traditional rite of the Holy Mass is the ever-new rite, the ever-present rite, the ritual that is never outdated or questioned.
This year we celebrate the centenary of the publication of the encyclical Quas Primas, on the Kingship of Christ. Christ is the only true King over all creatures.
If the princes of the priests and the Pharisees said in our day “we have no king but Caesar,” all those who truly believe in Christ should instead say we have no king but Jesus Christ.”
That is why the Son of God became man to reign as king, to reign as truth, and to reign as Savior over all the hearts of men, over all nations, over all human societies and institutions.
And he did not reign by force, but by the power of his love. Lasting peace worthy of the name will never exist if the doctrines and precepts of Jesus Christ are not kept by all in public life and in private life; this is what we mean when we call for we call the kingship of Christ.
Even though there is so much technological progress today and human brotherhood for world peace, if Christ does not reign as king in our families and our countries then our world lacks true spiritual beauty; then our world lacks full divine truth; then our world lacks supernatural love.
What does it mean to be Christian, to be Catholic? It means that Christ is the King of my life, it means that I am never ashamed to confess Christ in the truth of the Catholic faith.
It means observing God’s commandments with the help of his grace, purity of soul and chastity of body, mutual forgiveness and tireless charity towards our neighbour.
Let us pray to the Holy Spirit, saying: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the field of your Church with the fragrance and beauty of flowers of holiness and zeal for the salvation of souls, especially among young people, among families, and among the clergy.
Make us rejoice in our holy Catholic faith with unspeakable joy that our Catholic faith – more precious to Catholics than gold – is even in our own day, is being tested by fire, may return to the greatest expansion of Christ's kingdom, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
Athanasius, Bishop Schneider.
Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Astana.
Bishop Schneider is holding a lamp stand in Asia. Bishop Strickland is holding a lamp stand in America. Christ is the Invisible (veiled) Head of His Mystical Body. This looks awfully like Chapters 10 and 11 in the interlude before the 7th Trumpet. What that trumpet means relative to mystery and time is upon to interpretation but one think is certain, it happens 'quickly.'