PENTECOST: The “fiftieth” day at the end of the seven weeks following Passover (Easter in the Christian dispensation). At the first Pentecost after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was manifested, given and communicated as a divine Person to the Church, fulfilling the paschal mystery of Christ according to His promise. Annually the Church celebrates the memory of the Pentecost event as the beginning of the new “age of the Church” when Christ live sand acts in and with His Church (Catechism of the Catholic Church).
Acts 2:1-11
In the First Reading, the arrival of the Holy Spirit as a rushing wind symbolizes God’s freedom and power. God’s tongues of fire that rest on everyone happens in order to set the tongues of Jesus’ witnesses on fire to speak in ways that ignite the hearts of their listeners. With the Holy Spirit, the external descriptions always have inner meaning.
John 14:15-16, 23-26
The Gospel Reading reveals that the Holy Spirit is sent to us in order to lead us into the whole truth of Christ Jesus that the Father reveals to us. The Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of everything of God that Jesus shared with us through His life and teaching.
