Pentecost
The Catholic Church’s liturgical cycle each year reminds us of God’s infinite love, mercy and kindness to us His children. In Advent, we anticipate and prepare ourselves to receive the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, to dwell among us. In Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the great act of divine love shown us by God. In Lent, we journey with Jesus in His suffering, crucifixion and death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and our redemption. On Easter Day we joyfully celebrate our redemption and salvation with the resurrection of Christ, His victory over death that guarantees our union with Him in glory. After that, towards the end of the Easter season, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ into heaven to prepare for our union with Him in His glorified and divine state. Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the solemn public decent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles which crowns Christ’s love and work among us as it brings to fulfillment His promise to send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom His Father will send in His name to His apostles and disciples, to teach them everything they need to know by its gifts to them and to remind them of all that He had told and taught them. Hence today we celebrate the completion of God’s infinite love, mercy and kindness to us His children by sending us the Holy Spirit to abide in us as children of God, to direct us to God, to help and to assist us to live a life of holiness. Today’s feast emphasizes the following points:
Firstly, how God pours and showers his love on us by sending us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to teach everything we need to know because we are His children and to remind us of all that Jesus taught us that will help us attain the kingdom of heaven.
Secondly, today’s feast emphasizes how God unites us all as one. St. Paul in our second reading today (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) reminds us of this point saying, "As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit."
Thirdly, we are reminded of how God purifies and sanctifies us, by transforming our lives and empowering us with gifts of the Holy Spirit which are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord to worship Him better and to lead and guide us to the Truth.
Lastly, today’s feast shows us how God strengthens and increases our faith in Him by making us docile like the apostles in the 1st reading (Acts of the Apostles 2:1–11) who fearlessly went out proclaiming the gospel of Christ since the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1830 states that "The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit."
So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate the crown of God’s infinite love, mercy and kindness to us today in the Feast of Pentecost, let work hard in loving Him better in our thoughts, words and actions; let us be united as one in His love no matter our race, status, upbringing or beliefs; let us continue to purify and sanctify ourselves through prayer and acts of charity and lastly, let us continue to strengthen and increase our faith in God by putting to good use the gifts of the Holy Spirit we have received on our Confirmation day. Amen!
