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Pentecost: descent of the Holy Spirit |
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By Father John Paul Erickson
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Monday, 17 May 2010 |
Pentecost, celebrated 50 days after Easter, is one of the most important celebrations of the Church’s calendar, and serves as a kind of birthday for the Church. On this important solemnity, the Church remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Lord’s Apostles, as described in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. As  we read in Acts, it is by means of the Holy Spirit that the Apostles are able to finally heed the command of Christ, “Do not be afraid,” and to boldly take to the streets to proclaim the saving message of Jesus and his resurrection. All of these men, with the traditional exception of John, would one day face martyrdom, shedding their blood in solemn witness to the Faith and proclaiming to the world the triumph of Christ crucified. The Holy Spirit made these cowards to be heroes, and empowered them to fulfill the mission entrusted to them by Jesus Christ.
Importantly, this Feast takes its name from the Jewish celebration of
“first fruits,” a day set aside for the sacred and solemn offering of
bread created by the grains of the year’s harvest, and taking place 50
days after Passover. When understood in the light of the Jewish feast of
the same name, one begins to see the connection of this Feast of the
Holy Spirit with the Holy Eucharist, the Source and Summit of our Faith.
Just as bread is created when fire is applied to wheat and to water, so
too are the Apostles transformed when the fire of the Holy Spirit is
applied to their body and souls, and they are empowered by that same
Spirit to satisfy the world’s hunger for the Good News. In like manner,
it is by means of the descent of the Holy Spirit, eternally equal in
majesty and power to the Father and Son, that ordinary bread and wine
become the very body and blood of Jesus, the source of our strength and
consolation in the spiritual life. Indeed, every Mass is another
Pentecost, in which we offer to God the bread of our lives on the altar
of sacrifice, and in which He offers to us His own Divine Life on that
same table, empowering us to “be not afraid” and to set the world ablaze
with His life-giving love.
Reverend John Paul Erickson is the director of the Archdiocesan
Office of Worship.
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