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The great things of God

We have arrived at the end of the glorious 50 days of Easter with today’s great feast of Pentecost. The sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus is replete with beautiful images of the action of the Holy Spirit – he melts the frozen, warms the chill; he is coolness in the heat, solace in the midst of woe.

But it is to the Communion antiphon that we turn to in order to see what we are to take to heart today.

Factus est repente de caelo sonus advenientis spiritus vehementis, ubi erant sedentes, alleluia:
et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, loquentes magnalia Dei, alleluia, alleluia.

(And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, where they were sitting, alleluia: and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking the great works of God, alleluia, alleluia.)

The text is a recension of Acts 2: 2 and 4, part of the First Reading (Acts 2:1-11). The melody paints a dramatic picture of the sound of the mighty wind, but that should not distract us from the words its underlines: “loquentes magnalia Dei”. As we receive our Lord, body, soul and divinity in the gift of the Eucharist, we are reminded by this chant that the gift we have received is not only for us. We are to speak of the “magnalia Dei”, great works of God.

Now, in order to speak of the great works of God, evidently we have first to recognise them in our lives and the lives of those around us. This calls for attentiveness. We should note well that the Holy Spirit came upon those gathered in prayer “ubi erant sedentes”, where they were sitting. In other words, attentiveness is not attained by ceaseless activity!

The distractions (and by that token the inattentiveness) of modern life are often lamented. Yet are we not also guilty of restlessly seeking diversion and entertainment? From whom or what are we hiding? In her Dialogue, St Catherine of Siena reveals to us that it is only when we see our destitution that we can see the overwhelming love God has for us. What do we wish not to see? And in so doing, have we overlooked the great works of God?