It requires more than a course in public speaking to turn around minds and hearts caught in paralyzing fear. Several years after I became a priest, my mother revealed to me that one of her greatest concerns about my desire to become a priest was how her ‘Little Jo’ would be able preach Sunday after Sunday. And my mother was right, because I was one of those individuals scared to death about standing in front of an audience. But I knew even as ‘Small Jo’ in grade school that there were things I believed strongly and convictions clear as light to me. For example, I never doubted that I was called to be a priest. Hence, I told my parents and siblings when I was only four years old that I wanted to be called Father Jo. I didn’t start to answer Father Jo in 1997 when I eventually became a priest. Yet, I’ll admit that twenty-six years after ordination, I’m still uncomfortable in crowds and have not overcome the fear of public speaking. But my convictions have remained strong and, somehow, I manage to speak publicly.
The apostles, for a different reason, had similar fears about speaking after Jesus ascended into heaven. They found themselves locked inside a room, floundering in the fear that gripped them. They had been with Jesus for three years and had seen Him perform many miracles and speak words that pierced people’s hearts. They had seen that despite His kindness, love and compassion, people still hated Him and accused Him of being an impostor. They killed Him amidst two thieves, suggesting that He was an evildoer. The apostles could not shirk from these thoughts as they wondered how to confront the crowd that put away their All-powerful Master. He’d assured them of His presence to the end only to suddenly disappear from their sight.
Then came a violent wind that burst through the house. Strong winds create violent stirs, bending, breaking, and uprooting things. The apostles felt the stir in their hearts as they saw tongues of fire resting on the head of each one of them. Their perspective about the future was shaken and turned to debris; their fears were broken and uprooted. But violent winds do more than destroy things; they often propel the clouds to pour down rain to water the earth, causing seeds to sprout and grow, and transporting manure from one end to fertilize the soil at another end. The apostles felt this all-pervasive act of the new wind of God’s Spirit refreshing their lives as rain refreshes the earth, fertilizing their thoughts, and transforming them from fearful to courageous people.
The effects of such sudden outburst were felt all through the city. The apostles felt emboldened to go out and speak about that of which they had feared. Fear could no longer hold them captives of the cenacle. The sound propped not just the apostles but devout Jews who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate their Harvest Festival, “Pentecost,” meaning “fiftieth”—that is, fifty days after the Passover. Though they did not all speak the same language, each understood the apostles in Aramaic. Two things happened: First, a new Pentecost came about. Fifty days after our own Passover, which is Easter, the Catholic (Universal) Church was born. Second, the barrier in language that began at Babel was reversed. The Spirit united the languages and peoples of the world into a single people. St. Paul references this in the second reading: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit” (I Cor 12:13). Henceforth, only one language is heard—the language of the Holy Spirit, which is love.
Perhaps, you have heard people say they’re ‘spiritual’ but not religious. Demons are spiritual, too, and are pure spirits. Radical Moslems are spiritual. However, only those united by God’s Spirit know the true love of God. God’s love connects all to the Catholic Church—the single community of believers in Christ.
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo