Pentecost Sunday, or the Feast of Pentecost
The feast of Pentecost is one of the most important great feasts of the Lord. The word comes from the Greek pentēkostē, meaning “fiftieth”, applied to the fiftieth day after Easter. It celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on Christ’s disciples ten days after Jesus’ Ascension, according to the Acts of the Apostles (2:1-6): “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.” Clearly everyone began to understand one another: it is humanity’s return to the time before Babel. It is the Holy Spirit who opened their minds to understand; this gift of the Spirit inaugurated a new age. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, it is “the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated”. The Church then appeared publicly before the crowd, and the spreading of the Gospel began with preaching.
The Holy Spirit came down on the community of disciples, together with the Virgin Mary, while they were gathered in the Upper Room. The wind, the fire, the upper room and everything that happened remind us of Mount Sinai, when Moses received the commandments and the “covenant” was made with the people in the desert. It is the Holy Spirit who now comes down to give the new covenant to the disciples and turn them from a “group” into a “Church”.
We are all called to be filled with the Holy Spirit as Christ’s apostles were, as the Apostle Paul says: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We must stay ready, persevering in prayer, to welcome the Holy Spirit and be filled with him: “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14). We are also called to bear witness and to proclaim openly. If we truly believe in Pentecost, we must decide to be with the Lord so as to live with him, and to grow in understanding the reasons why we believe. On the day of Pentecost the Church clearly shows the public dimension of the decision of faith and of boldly proclaiming our own faith to every person. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that equips us for mission, strengthens our witness and makes it frank and courageous.
Prayer: Virgin Mary, who stayed with the apostles in the Upper Room and by your prayer with them drew the fire of the Spirit upon the newborn Church, grant us the grace to persevere in supplication until that same fire of the Spirit blazes in the hearts of our brothers and sisters and in the heart of the universal Church. Amen.
Prepared by Rita, of the Sawt el Rab team
