Year B
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Pentecost meaning fiftieth - day of Easter, celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit to God’s Church, flowing from the victory of Christ, our Saviour, his resurrection and ascent into heavenly glory; hence the Birthday of the Church.
1st R. recounts the experience of the Apostles as they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2nd R. contrasts the fruits of the Holy Spirit with the effects of self-indulgence.
At Pentecost, we Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Ghost and the New Covenant by which God brings to birth a new People – the People who are to be a holy nation.
Spirit is “breeze or breath” and Holy Spirit is the “Breath of God” who is Love - St Hilary refers to the Holy Spirit as “The Gift”-the Holy Spirit is the fruit of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The last breath of Jesus on the cross becomes the first breath of the Church – the gift of Love, transforming our very nature so as to enable us to participate in/share in, the love and life of God.
More than fifty years ago, the Bishop posted me as curate to Fr. Brian Scantlebury at the Holy Ghost, Basingstoke. I arrived on Saturday afternoon. I had been curate to Brian elsewhere, so we knew one another. Brian was in a bad mood. The guests at the wedding, he’d just conducted left the back of the Church covered in confetti. Brian greeted me and added, “Look at that! Clear it up”
“Where’s the equipment? said I. “In that cupboard” was the reply, before Brian disappeared.
I found a wide broom and an industrial sized vacuum with a large tube to attach; swept the confetti into a heap; inserted the tube and plugged the vacuum into an electric socket and switched on. The thing roared into life. “Soon suck this lot up” thought I and descended on the heap of confetti only to discover that I’d switched it to BLOW, instead of SUCK. The effect was devastating!
My introduction to the Holy Ghost was somewhat traumatic to say the least. The Dove of Peace was not the first thought that came to mind. Perhaps the more apt symbol for that moment was the Celtic symbol for the Holy Ghost, namely The Wild Goose.
The effect of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles was dynamic, more akin to the energy associated with the Wild Goose. Things happened; the house shook; the Apostles were transformed; the initial congregation was amazed and so many converted.
The Holy Spirit is the divine person who keeps the memory of Jesus alive and makes plain for us what belongs to Jesus. When a person opens his or her heart to the Holy Spirit, then the new law of love enables that person to live in the Way Jesus showed us, in joy and true obedience to the Father – to live in The Way of Love.
No wonder St Paul could write: “Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.”
One place I frequently witnessed persons directed by the Holy Spirit was on pilgrimage in Lourdes. I am sure you have your own experiences of spirit-filled folk. Here is one of mine:
Tracy was a young teenager, who contracted a serious condition necessitating the amputation of the lower part of her leg. She was a courageous girl and determined to take as full a part as possible in the activities of her peers. By the time she was in the sixth form she had adjusted to her prosthesis – artificial lower limb – enough to enable her to volunteer as a helper at Lourdes. One day the Group Leader assigned her the task of pulling a Lourdes chariot (a kind of large three wheeled chair used in Lourdes for processions of the sick). The occupant was a particularly discontented elderly woman, who never expressed anything except criticism of everyone and everything about her. During the procession Tracy’s prosthesis became loose. Nonchalantly, Tracy rested her foot on the tow bar and pulled up the leg of her jeans to tighten the straps in full view of the woman in the chariot. The effect this little incident had on the old lady was electric! She returned to the Hospice ward and told the nurse how ashamed she felt: “Here am I, who had perfect health and perfect limbs all my life, complaining about so little and at my time of life, whilst this courageous young person, who has so much to bear, is cheerfully giving her service to care for others.” The old lady was never heard to complain again. (It was the nurse who told me about it.)
The Solemnity of Pentecost
CCC 696, 726, 731-732, 737-741, 830, 1076, 1287, 2623: Pentecost
CCC 599, 597,674, 715: apostolic witness on Pentecost
CCC 1152, 1226, 1302, 1556: the mystery of Pentecost continues in the Church
CCC 767, 775, 798, 796, 813, 1097, 1108-1109: the Church, communion in the Spirit
Pentecost Sunday brings the Paschal Mystery to completion, for through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on God’s adopted children, although diverse with different ethnicities and languages, we are united to Jesus Christ, and are incorporated into his Body, the Church. It has been fifty days since our celebration of the Resurrection. Pentecost comes from the Greek word Pentekoste, which means fiftieth. The Jewish festival of Shavuot was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. It was a harvest feast, in which Jews used to decorate their homes with fruits of the harvest and foliage to show the abundance of God. Still to this very day, numerous Eastern Christian Churches decorate their churches with green foliage and flowers, which symbolically represent the divine life and gifts of the Holy Spirit. God has been abundant with us through the descent of the Holy Spirit and therefore making us his adopted children. We are called to share this abundance with others in the world – ‘that the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed [will] fill now once more the hearts of believers.’ One of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to unify and inflame charity. Although all of us are distinctively unique and different, we ought to be a sign of charity and unity for the world. Unity does not mean uniformity. With much division, polarisation, war, and hatred throughout the world, how much more ought we reflect this reality of unity and charity? Let the words if St John Chrysostom the Holy Spirit by be on our forethoughts today, “In former times people, seized by madness, wanted to build a tower to reach heaven (cf. Tower of Babel); by the Lord, by dividing their tongues, divided their evil purpose. So now the Holy Spirit descends upon them in fiery tongues to unify a divided world. The result is something new and strange (mystical).”
Notes
Hymns for Pentecost Sunday have been chosen from various sources:
Holy spirit, Lord of light (CFE261, L301, LHON341, TCH313)
Breathe on me, Breath of God (CFE98, L302, LHON182, TCH91)
Come Holy Ghost Creator, come (CFE126, L296, LHON210, TCH93)
Spirit of the living God (L306)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
