Dear Parishioners,
Happy Birthday! Pentecost is the official birthday of the Church. All living things have a birthday. The Church is a living organism, and Pentecost is her birthday. The Church Jesus established nearly 2,000 years ago. The feast also commemorates the official inauguration of the Church by the apostolic preaching of St. Peter, which resulted in the conversion of 3,000 Jews to the Christian Faith (Acts 2:1–41).
Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season. For Christians, it is a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus. The Paschal mystery—the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus—culminates in the sending of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples.
Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is an event of both the past and the present. The main theme of today’s readings is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is something to be shared with others. In other words, the readings remind us that the gift of the Holy Spirit moves its recipients to action and inspires us to share this gift with others. Pentecost enables us to be powerful instruments of the transforming grace of God. And there is no doubt that the world around us needs this grace.
God Bless,
Deacon Howard
