Dear Friend,
We are 50 days after the great Paschal feast of the Resurrection of our Lord at Easter, and now we celebrate the tremendous Solemnity of Pentecost! This solemnity had once been so revered and elevated that before the Second Vatican Council there was an Octave of Pentecost, in similar manner to the Octave of Easter and Octave of Christmas. This is probably considered the third highest solemnity, although an argument could be made that it was once viewed as greater than Christmas (despite how many people approach Christmas, Easter is the most important of all solemnities). Let’s recapture the importance of Pentecost!
We often forget the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit. When we refer simply to God, we are ordinarily referring to God the Father. Typically, we pray to the Father or pray to His Son, Jesus Christ. We usually discuss the work of the Father or of Jesus in our lives, but the Holy Spirit is largely forgotten. Pentecost is the solemnity that focuses us on the Holy Spirit. God, through the work of the Church, invites us to focus our attention on the Holy Spirit. Just as we hear time and again about fostering a relationship with Jesus, Pentecost calls us to foster a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We can do this in the same manner as a relationship with Jesus.
The apostles first received the Holy Spirit on Easter. In John 20, Jesus breathes on the apostles on the day of the Resurrection and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Even though some erroneously believe that we receive the Holy Spirit for the first time at Confirmation, we actually receive fully the Holy Spirit at Baptism. We are made temples of the Holy Spirit at Baptism. The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles fifty days after the Resurrection in the form of tongues of fire. The apostles then went out into Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus as Lord and risen from the dead. They were understood by all who heard them despite the differences in language. This is considered the “birthday” of the Church. Like the apostles at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends upon us at Confirmation—albeit not in the form of tongues of fire—confirming us in the Church and giving us the courage, zeal, and strength to go out and witness to Jesus the Lord.
Pentecost was not a feast invented by the early Christians; there was a Jewish feast of Pentecost, hence all the nations in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost. The Jewish feast of Pentecost celebrated and memorialized God giving the law to Moses (celebrating such an occasion is foreign to us: we clearly prefer celebrating the 4th of July as opposed to Constitution Day—September 17). With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, God gives us the law on Pentecost yet in a new and different way. Remember how God gives the law to Moses: God Himself writes the law on the stone tablets. Now think about what we hear from the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “Days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah...but this covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people (31:31,33).” The Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, is the Law of God written on our hearts, teaching us the ways of the Kingdom of God.
Lastly and hopefully briefly, Pentecost reverses the damaging consequences of the Tower of Babel. In their hubris and pride, the people build a tower and city to contend with God. As a result, God scatters the people and confuses their language. At Pentecost, everyone who hears the apostles understand what they are proclaiming.
On Pentecost Sunday (not the Vigil on Saturday), we sing the Pentecost Sequence, a hymn with the Latin title Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit). You can find the lyrics to that hymn, and I encourage you to pray it daily.
We are saints under construction, learning to grow in relationship with the Holy Spirit. Have a great week!
Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt