This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost. This celebration concludes the Easter Season. In an even wider perspective, Pentecost can be seen as the final moment in our annual spiritual exercise that began with fasting and penance on Ash Wednesday and took us through our Lenten practices as well.

 

In our hearts and our faith Pentecost should be thought of and celebrated along with Christmas and Easter. The reality, however, is that many do not recognize the centrality of this moment in the life of the Church.

 

Jesus had told His disciples before His passion and death that they would receive “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit” … and that “He will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (Jn 14:26). The Acts of the Apostles records that the final words of Jesus before His ascension were also about the gift of the Holy Spirit and the responsibility of the faithful who had received that gift. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

 

The Holy Spirit who descended upon the disciples and Mary in that closed room manifested His presence by the sound of wind and the tongues of fire. (Acts 2: 2-3). Individually, and together as the early Church, the disciples felt the presence and strength that was given to them. And they knew it was not just individual gifts for them to treasure personally. They were to be witnesses. As a result, they immediately went out and began to speak to others about the truth of Jesus, even, at times, at their earthly peril.

 

That Holy Spirit is God Himself. He is of the same substance with the Father and the Son. He came upon Mary in the conception of Jesus (Lk 1:35). St. Paul said through the Spirit Jesus was raised from the dead and He will raise us also (Rm 8:11).

 

This means that the Holy Spirit has given life to the Church and Her faith from the very beginning. For that reason alone the celebration of Pentecost calls forth our faith and gratitude to God. But Jesus has told us that the Spirit will guide His Church, in every age. The gift of the Holy Spirit is as real and alive today as 2000 years ago.

 

With this conviction of faith, we understand that the Church has a consistent faith throughout the ages. Jesus’ teaching was God’s Word for all time. The Holy Spirit guides the Church to deepen that faith and to apply it in every age, but never to change it in what is essential.

 

We are called and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to witness to that faith in our own time and age. Throughout all of the pressures of history and at times the human failings of the members of the Church, the Holy Spirit guides us. He reminds us of everything from the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, to the importance of Mary, to the dignity of every human life including the unborn, to the reality of both heaven and hell.

 

Let’s make this year’s celebration of Pentecost a personal moment of recommitment to our Catholic faith and of gratitude for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We should ask Him to protect the Church, to deepen our Catholic understanding and to help us to live as Jesus has taught us. And above all we should offer a prayer of thanks for His constant presence in our lives. Come Holy Spirit, come!