The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world, and
holds all things together and knows every word
spoken by man, Alleluia.
Wisdom 1:7
The feast of
Pentecost in the Roman Catholic Church will be
celebrated liturgically on Sunday May 11, 2008. The
Church celebrates Pentecost, fifty days after
Easter, as the day on which the Holy Spirit
descended upon the apostles in the upper room along
with Mary, mother of Jesus, “as a mighty, rushing
wind” fulfilling Jesus’ promise when he “breathed on
them,” as recorded in the Gospel of John chapter
20.
This event, which marks the beginning of the Church,
is recorded in the book of Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 2. The liturgical color for Pentecost is
red, a reminder of the flames that "rested on them".
Another symbol for the Holy Spirit is the dove,
usually emitting golden rays of light.
The Holy Spirit
gave the apostles gifts of grace through which they
would undertake the evangelical mission of the
Church. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles were
given the miraculous "gift of tongues" -- so that
everyone from every country understood the
Christians inspired message of salvation as if the
they were hearing it in their own languages.
Thousands were converted by the preaching of
Peter and the other apostles.
Called Whitsunday
(white Sunday) in England, for the white garments
worn by confirmands (candidates for Confirmation),
Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, originated as a
Jewish festival fifty days (seven weeks) after
Passover.
The Solemnity of
Pentecost ends the
Easter season. After Pentecost, the Easter
candle is kept in the baptistery or near the
baptismal font, and is lighted only for a baptism.
For centuries, the Sundays of the Catholic Church
year between Pentecost and Advent were numbered as
"after Pentecost". Since the Second Vatican Council,
this period is called "Ordinary Time" (the first
period of Ordinary Time is that between the
Epiphany and
Lent). Three Solemnities are celebrated in the
weeks immediately following Pentecost:
Trinity Sunday,
Corpus Christi (The Body and Blood of Christ)
and the
Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church Instructs on Pentecost:
731 On the day of
Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to
an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given,
and communicated as a Divine Person: of His
fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in
abundance.
1076 The Church was made manifest to the world on
the day of Pentecost by the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era
in the "dispensation of the mystery" -- the Age of
the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes
present, and communicates His work of salvation
through the Liturgy of His Church, "until He comes."
In this age of the Church Christ now lives and acts
in and with His Church, in a new way appropriate to
this new age. He acts through the Sacraments in what
the common Tradition of the East and the West calls
"the sacramental economy"; this is the communication
(or "dispensation") of the fruits of Christ's
Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church's
"sacramental" Liturgy.
