Celebrating Pentecost.

WHY DOES THE CHURCH CELEBRATE PENTECOST?

The Holy Spirit.

This feast marks the 50 days of Easter and the closing of Eastertide as a liturgical season, and the birth of the Church.  Pentecost commemorates not only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples- as we know, but also the fruits and effects of that event: the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations 

So, Pentecost is not just a feast but in fact it is a Solemnity. It is the Church's birthday- ours too as Catholics. God is three persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit yet one God.  This is a mystery.  However, we can in our prayer life tap into all three persons. If we were to ask Catholics generally how they communicate with God, I think the survey might come in as many tending to communicate with God as Father or Jesus as His Son and perhaps forget the Holy Spirit.

However, this Solemnity reminds us that Jesus did not leave us orphans when He ascended to Heaven- He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.  Yet, sadly, the Holy Spirit can be forgotten and/or ignored in our spiritual lives.  Yet, He has many special gifts to offer us.  We can have a very special intimate relationship with Him, just as we do with Jesus and with Father God.

The Holy Spirit can be for some of us, a poor second cousin to God the Father, or Jesus His Son.  However, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity-three persons yet one God as our Catholic Faith tells us.  Today's Gospel makes it perfectly clear that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus absolves us from our sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation in the person of the priest but where necessary, this grace can be retained as well. So we should not take God's forgiveness for granted.

WHY DO I NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The Holy Spirit needs therefore to be our best friend, since what He tells us is in direct harmony with Father God and Jesus His Son. Yet, the Holy Spirit will provide the graces and gifts that we need for our daily lives, just as He did with the disciples after Jesus had ascended to Heaven.  Remember Jesus ascended back into Heaven so that He could send the Holy Spirit- obviously Jesus in His wisdom thought it important enough for us.  It is through the Holy Spirit that the Church is guided, and we are in our personal prayer guided by Him too.  It is that quiet little voice that 

• prompts us to do the right thing and stand up for what we believe when it would easier to walk away,
• helps us examine our conscience of any wrong doing/sin/faults which we need to confess,
• guides us to do the will of God in our lives.
• is our consolation in times of grief and confusion.
• brings us a greater awareness and understanding of our faith
• supports us in our life journey and is our best friend.

Of course, there are the 7 traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit and the 12 fruits which emanate from them which we are given in a special way at Confirmation.  However, although we receive them then, we can always ask the Holy Spirit daily to increase in us these gifts and fruits, and supply for us what is lacking at our present time.  

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit gives each of us an extra special dose of the gift/s that we most need for our lives, a gift we use more often than the other gifts- for me, those extra doses of the gifts have been courage and perseverance. When life has been tough, I know with God's help that I can dig deep and draw on these gifts.   Perhaps, you may have had a similar observation in your life. Of course, we do not need to wait until life is tough, but we can draw on these gifts each day in our daily lives. As our lives change over the years, so do our need for different graces. So, we need to continue to ask the Holy Spirit to help us and provide the necessary gifts for our lives.

The Holy Spirit came to the disciples as promised by Jesus. They were no longer afraid but went out and preached the Good News.  On this feast of Pentecost, which is the birthday of the Church, she invokes the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on us, and with that, we can ask Him to provide the gifts/fruits we most need for our lives. We can be filled anew- a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful grace to receive again.  Let us be open to receive the Holy Spirit afresh in our hearts and to be eagerly awaiting to receive the gift/s He has to offer us on His special Feast- the feast of Pentecost.

However, this feast reminds us that Jesus did not leave us orphans when He ascended to Heaven- He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.  Yet, sadly, the Holy Spirit can be forgotten and/or ignored in our spiritual lives.  Yet, He has many special gifts to offer us.  We can have a very special intimate relationship with Him, just as we do with Jesus and with Father God.

So we might like to take some time to reflect on my relationship with the Holy Spirit.  Some reflective questions may include:

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. What is my relationship with the Holy Spirit? 

2. How does the Holy Spirit work in my life? 
3. How will I use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to bring Christ to the world this week? 
4. Do I know my faith adequately to be able to teach the gospel to one other person? If not, what steps might I take to change this? 
5. What areas in my life has the risen Christ renewed during Eastertide and how might the Spirit assist you to continue this renewal for the remainder of the year? 
6. How might I live in the power of the Holy Spirit in my life?

We may also want to reflect on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and how they operate in our lives.

Traditions/customs associated with Pentecost Sunday  

Fruit Salad is often used as a dessert for Pentecost Sunday. It is made from 12 fruits to represent the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit which are: Charity, Generosity, Joy, Gentleness, Peace, Faithfulness, Patience, Modesty, Kindness, Self-Control, Goodness and Chasity.

The fruit salad can be made using both dried fruits such as currants, raisins, dates and tinned fruits as well as fresh fruits. These are then combined with a syrup made with sugar and water and perhaps a dash of your favourite liqueur.

It is a great opportunity to use the making of the fruit salad into a quiz either for yourself to refresh in your mind the fruits of the Spirit and/or for younger members of the family. There is a huge variety of ways making the fruit salad can be made into a teaching of the faith opportunity in a fun way for the family.  What will you do?

Another name for Pentecost Sunday is its traditional name' Whitsunday' which commemorated the white robes worn by the newly baptised on this day.  Two other traditional desserts served therefore are white food-meringues (pavlova) or a sponge cake topped with white icing to represent the white robes worn by newly baptised.

Lamingtons with cream can be an ideal dessert with a small birthday candle in each to remind those sharing it to flame their faith and to enkindle it in the fire of His love.

The Prayer to the Holy Spirit can be an ideal prayer before meals on Pentecost Sunday so that when the dessert arrives with the candle, each person can renew in their hearts the joy of the Feast and keep it alive and active throughout the year.

Regardless of whether you choose these traditional Pentecost desserts or not, it is important to remember that a new chapter began at Pentecost, and the Apostles started to take the Gospel of salvation to the whole world.  This is also our task.  Pentecost ends the liturgical season of Eastertide, but it marks the birthday of the Church.  

We may wish to pause and say a prayer of thanks in gratitude for the person/people who taught us our faith and have helped us on our spiritual journey.  We may wish to reflect on how we came into the Church.  I was baptized as a young baby just 15 days old- a cradle catholic.  I thank my parents and godparents for bringing me into the family of the Church. However, at some point, we have to make our own decision to follow Christ and take our faith seriously.  This is the journey we all make each in our unique way.  The Holy Spirit is in this journey with us too.

The message of Easter and of the Church is not something meant to be kept to ourselves, rather it is the glorious news that we must take to everyone : the love of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the redemption of the human race.  

As we celebrate the Solemnity feast of Pentecost, let us be filled and renewed by the Holy Spirit.  We may wish to make the commitment to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit and to pray each day at least one prayer to the Holy Spirit such as: 

''Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful 

and enkindle in them the fire of Your love".

May the Holy Spirit bless you abundantly.