Archbishop Viganò: Sermon for the Vigil of Pentecost - May 27, 2023

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Homily of Msgr. Viganò: Vigil of Pentecost
Let's fight with enthusiasm!

Marco Tosatti blog[computer translated from the Italian - slightly adapted - emphasis mine] | May 28, 2023

Homily for the conferment of Holy Confirmation on the eve of Pentecost

 

Qui diceris Paraclitus, Altissimi donum Dei.

Hymn. Veni, Creator


Today we celebrate Pentecost Eve. The ancient baptismal liturgy of this day, abolished with the 1955 reform, was recently brought back to use by numerous communities following the Tridentine rite, moreover with the permission of the Commission Ecclesia Dei. The reason for this decision is due to the fact that the authors of Ordo Hebdomadæ Sanctæ instauratus of Pius XII are the same as those of Rubricarum Instructum of John XXIII and of Novus Ordo Missæ of Paul VI. With a view to recovering the treasures of the traditional Rite, this rediscovery not only of Holy Week pre-1955, but also of the symbolic liturgy of Pentecost, called Easter of the Roses in memory of the ancient custom of dropping a shower of rose petals from the vault of our churches, which were to represent the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit. This still happens in the Basilica of Santa Maria to Martyres, the Roman Pantheon.

Its baptismal disposition recalls Easter Eve, because catechumens who had not received Baptism on Holy Saturday – for example because they are not yet ready or sick – could be admitted among newbies during today's solemn function. This ancient rite contemplates the blessing of the Sacred Source and the conferment of sacramental washing, and reminds us of the concern of the Holy Church, which is Teacher in demanding the due preparation of the candidates for Baptism, and Mother in giving them another opportunity to end Easter time. According to Dom Guéranger, the reading of the prophecies constitutes an evident reference to Holy Saturday, with the double symbolism of Easter and Jewish Pentecost that take place on Easter and Christian Pentecost.

Certainly the great Pius XII, towards whom we have a profound veneration, had no way of grasping in those first steps of the renouveau liturgique, started in the 1920s, the threat that would later appear evident with the so-called “conciliar reform”. This is why the recovery of rites prior to 1955 does not in the least question his Pontificate, nor his love for the Roman Liturgy. Rather, we can recognize the diabolical cunning with which the [innovators] acted, who by small steps undermined the invaluable treasure of Catholic worship. Rather than opening up this heritage, the result of centuries of harmonious development, they considered it more convenient to simplify them, demonstrating in this not only a completely alien mentality to a true understanding of the divine Liturgy, but also a substantial contempt for the holy people of God, wrongly considered unable to feed themselves spiritually by drawing on it. But this, it is clear, was still a pretext, an excuse – la actuosa participatio, there active participation of the faithful – behind which the will to unhinge the Faith, the lex credendi, by tampering with its prayerful expression, the lex orandi.

Ultimately, the [innovators] reveal their lack of trust in the action of Grace infused by the Holy Spirit – which also works through the Liturgy – and in man's ability to correspond to it. In their mentality, nothing must test us, nothing must represent an opportunity for improvement: everything must be within everyone's reach, no treasure must be disclosed to those who consider mediocre and ignorant; which betrays their proud persuasion of being superior to their flock. This presumptuous classism is not limited to exteriority, but also extends to internal questions, so that for them the ignorance of the Faith, the indolent accommodation of the Moral, laziness in Spirituality and Asceticism must be the rule for a mass that they have no desire to guide, to instruct, to admonish. Too much effort, for those who first do not believe, do not love, do not hope. Too much effort, for those who are busy building a church in their own image, considering the Church of Christ and its Liturgy old and impossible.

For this reason they depersonalize individuals and annihilate them in a faceless and will-less assembly to which to impose a horizontal vision without supernatural yearning, in the certainty – that we have under our eyes – that a ritual that expresses For this reason they depersonalize individuals and annihilate them in a faceless and will-less assembly to which to impose a horizontal vision without supernatural yearning, in the certainty – that we have under our eyes – that a rite that expresses another ecclesiological and doctrinal vision would end up changing the faith of those who would assist you.

Vice versa, the good Pastors are the first who, in the wake of Tradition and in the constant and humble practice of what they preach, have the task of indicating great goals to the souls entrusted to them. Be holy, as holy is your Father ( Mt 5, 48 ), Our Lord exhorts us. And this holiness, which is made of heroism and of generous abandonment to the will of God, is the answer to Grace, which makes possible to God what we would never know how to do alone. And today, with the conferment of Holy Confirmation to young Gabriel, we have proof of this: the Lord, who calls us to be children of the eternal Father and living members of the Church through Baptism, makes us soldiers of Christ in the Sacrament of Confirmation, ready to fight the good fight. But He does not leave us alone in this trial: he provides us with the spiritual weapons with which to face the Enemy of our soul. The Holy Spirit gives us these very powerful weapons – for free, like everything that comes from God – precisely in Confirmation and in all the sacraments: the armor of God, the belt of truth,the armor of justice, the shoes of preaching, the shield of Faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the training of prayer, the gym of fasting and penance ( Eph 6, 10-20 ).

Let us not be proud of what the Lord allows us to be, nor of the successes that we obtain thanks to him; but let's not be discouraged even for our failures, for our weakness, for the inexperience in handling these weapons or the lack of dexterity in holding them. Rather, we repeat with San Paolo: I can do everything in the one who gives me strength (Fil 4, 13).

In this solemn Vigil that prepares us for the descent of the Paraclete, we invoke the Holy Spirit with the trust of those who know their weakness with realism and humility, but also the infinite power of the Lord God of the armies deployed, and that no less terrible than our august Condottiera, Mary Most Holy, terterilis ut castrorum acies ordered. The spiritual war we fight against the world, the flesh and the devil was won on the Cross, where Our Lord and God defeated the enemy; where the blessed lineage of the woman crowned with stars and covered with sun has crushed the head of the ancient Serpent. It will know the total victory at the end of time, when again the Woman announced in Genesis and the fruit of Her womb will exterminate the Antichrist and Satan. We are in the midst of this epochal conflict, and if we want to triumph with Christ and His Most Holy Mother, we must fight with enthusiasm under the glorious insignia of our King, protected from the armor that the Holy Spirit – παράκλητος, that is, defender, adviser and lawyer – makes available to us, mainly with the Grace conferred on Confirmation.

We have high ideals, great challenges, exciting duels to face. With the help of God, the young Gabriel will also have it, whom the Church enlists in its ranks as miles Christi, endowing it with all the spiritual equipment it needs, providing it with the care of Confession, nourishing its strength and vigor with the supernatural Food of the Most Holy Eucharist. Gabriele: strength of God. The Holy Spirit will also give you – as he has given and continues to bestow on each of us – His Gifts, the sacred Septenary: wisdom, intellect, advice, fortitude, science, piety, fear of God.

So let us not be discouraged by those who want us weak and disarmed, resigned and ignorant, in order to better break down and win: let us rather place all our hopes in God, who calls us to the heroism of holiness because it takes us to His right on the glorious day of victory, when he will place His enemies as a stool for His feet (Sal 109, 2). And so be it.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop



May 27, 2023

Sabbato in Vigilia Pentecostes