We have come to the conclusion of the Easter season, the Feast of Pentecost Sunday. It is interesting that of the readings, there are differences between the liturgical years but there are similarities. The first reading from Acts (2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire is always read no matter which year. The second reading varies per liturgical year, and the Gospel is usually fixed to the one today, though I have seen options. I don’t recall any of those options ever being read.
Two years ago, I embedded a clip from Dr. Brant Pitre explaining the Jewish roots of Pentecost. It is only four minutes long, but it is well worth listening to. A key takeaway is that the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire mirrors the descent of God on Mount Sinai in a fire when He brings down the Ten Commandments. There is more and you should listen to it all.
I found the introduction to today’s Pentecost
Mass in the magazine Magnificat (May 2026 Issue, p. 364)
particularly insightful. I will quote
it.
By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Church remains in every age vivified and sanctified by Christ’s presence. The Holy Spirit prepares us with his grace to draw us to Christ. He manifests the risen Lord to us, opening our minds. He makes present the mystery of Christ. He reconciles us, bringing us into communion with God. And he interiorly perfects our spirit, communicating to it a new dynamism so that it refrains from evil for love. When the Holy Spirit comes within us, “it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely otherworldly in outlook, and for cowards to become people of great courage” (Saint Cyril of Alexandria).
The quote from St. Cyril is excellent but I particularly liked the sentence, “And he interiorly perfects our spirit, communicating to it a new dynamism so that it refrains from evil for love.”
Today’s Gospel:
On the evening of that first day of
the week,
when the doors were locked, where
the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be
with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw
the Lord.
Jesus said to them again,
"Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send
you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven
them,
and whose sins you retain are
retained."
~Jn:20:19-23
There are many aspects of Pentecost we can explore. In my introduction above I linked to a post on the Jewish roots of Pentecost. I also spoke on the Holy Spirit entrance into our hearts, and more on that later in the pastoral homily. But for the exegesis I would like to post this homily from Archbishop Edward Weisenburger on the meaning of Pentecost as the birth of the Church.
Archbishop Weisenburger:
We then come to the
Christian experience and meaning of
Pentecost, which is the fiftieth day after Easter, when we celebrate the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the
Apostles gathered together with our Blessed Mother in the upper room after
Jesus' ascension and the beginning, some
would say the "birthday," of the Church itself. But that image of
"birthday of the Church" is not a perfect one. Let me explain.
When that great
historical event of Pentecost took place, St. Peter, whom Jesus clearly left in
charge, was there. But the papacy as we understand it today was still a long
way off. That humble fisherman left in charge often stumbled, made mistakes,
and eventually it took his co-workers and St. Paul to correct him in error and
get him back on track with the Gospel. No.
On that first, great, historical
Pentecost, with its outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon those gathered in the
upper room, there were no basilicas or cathedrals. Not until the 4th century.
There was no St. Peter's Square. That would come 16 centuries later. There was
no Vatican. That would come 18 centuries later.
There was no pope putting on military armor, like Pope Julius II, going
into battle against his enemies to defend the Papal States. There were no
encyclicals. We believe the first one came in the early 1700s. There were no
Cardinals. They appeared in the 11th
century. There was no formal canon law, which evolved primarily from the 12th
century. No Benedictine monks until the fifth century, and no Jesuits until the
16th.
No, at that first,
historic Pentecost, with the empowering of the Apostles, and our Blessed Mother
with the Holy Spirit, none of this was there. And don't get me wrong, I'm not
saying that these developments were not willed directly and inspired by the
Holy Spirit, or profoundly helpful as the Church grew through the centuries.
I'm only saying that all too often we identify "the Church" with real
estate, bureaucracy, titles, offices, and laws, instead of the foundation upon
which it would be built, which were the faithful, the people themselves.
When you think about
it, what the Holy Spirit fell upon at Pentecost was unwashed fishermen, peasant
carpenters, housewives, greedy tax collectors, and a lot of other marginal
people, who found themselves glued together by three things. First, baptism
into Jesus. Second, the breaking of bread in the Eucharist. And third, the
overwhelming, loving witness of very ordinary people.
It seems that these three factors were the basic building blocks of the Church. And what's more, each of those present discovered that he or she had some gift to offer, some ability, talent, or something in some way useful for the building up of the Church, and their gifts were honored, put to use, and treasured. Brothers and sisters, that's what we find when we look to the early Church. The Church immediately after the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at that first, historical Pentecost. And if you had been there in the first century, and asked, "What is the Church?" The response you would have received, perhaps worded or articulated in a host of ways, would simply have been something more like, "We are simple people, baptized into Jesus' life, and gathered together around God's word and the breaking of bread. We have a variety of gifts, joyfully putting them to use for the Lord. And knowing that in God's power, nothing can stand against us. We will continue on, joyfully allowing the Lord to use us as he pleases."
That was a long, extended quote but a very insightful one. That point is one to remember.
For the pastoral homily I’m going to go to an Italian Dominican, Br.
Giovanni Castellano, who serves in England with the historic Black Friars.
Br. Giovanni:
Well, today we have
yet another episode in the Easter drama we've been living for weeks now. But we
should beware of thinking that Pentecost is merely an extra episode, an
optional addition to what the Lord has already done. It is not something we
could do without. Pentecost is truly the fulfillment for us of the Lord's
death, resurrection, and ascension. And
the reason is that if all the wonderful things that happen to our Lord are to
have any meaning or any effect in our lives, that is because of the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Receiving
the spirit is our way of entering the history of salvation which the Lord
accomplished in his own life.
What exactly this
means of course is another very good question. The fathers compare the spirit
to a sunbeam which has of course all sorts of effects. It nourishes plants. It
produces solar energy and it also makes us sweat during a rather unwelcome
heatwave in Britain. The spirit in the
same way works in many ways in us. I found a page online listing the 70 effects
of the Holy Spirit. And I was tempted to go through all of them with you this
morning, but I thought they might not be a good idea. So perhaps I'll just comment on a couple of
them. First, the spirit gives us a new heart.
God had promised this through the mouth of the prophet. I will give you
a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
We are given the capacity for a supernatural love… in Christian theology, supernatural means what
exceeds our natural capacity and is then a gift from God. And the most
supernatural thing of all is a love like Christ's, a divine love which gives
itself up for its friends. And this is the love that the Holy Spirit makes
possible in us.
But there is a second crucial thing the spirit does. He makes us work for the kingdom of God. Again, black friars exists today because of the visionary leadership of be Jared. He was certainly inspired by the Holy Spirit to bet on something which perhaps others would not have dared to do. He said, "We are beginning without a penny, but we shall build as the money comes in." He'd been given a vision for the future and had the courage to act on it. The apostles after the ascension were gathered together in prayer, but they were still paralyzed by fear like on the day of the resurrection as we saw in John's gospel. Only when the spirit comes upon them do they receive the boldness to go out and proclaim the gospel to the world. So the spirit changes our heart, but he also gives us a vision and a mission and with it the strength to carry it out. The spirit teaches us how to love the world and how to build up the church.
So, with the Spirit teaching us “how to love the world and how to build up the church,” Br. Giovanni combines two of the major themes for today.
Sunday Meditation: Jesus
said to them again, "Peace be with you.”
Let us turn to this beautiful hymn, “Come, O Holy Spirt, Come,” set to
the melody of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
Come, thou Holy
Spirit, come,
and from thy
celestial home
shed a ray of light
divine;
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
come, thou Father of
the poor,
come, thou source of
all our store,
come, within our
hearts to shine,
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
Thou of comforters
the best,
thou the soul's most
welcome guest,
sweet refreshment
here below;
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
in our labour rest
most sweet,
grateful coolness in
the heat,
solace in the midst
of woe,
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
O most blessed Light
divine,
May that Light within
us shine,
And our inmost being
fill!
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
In your absence, we
have naught,
Nothing good in deed
or thought,
Nothing free from
taint of ill.
Come O Holy Spirit
Come.
Have a blessed Feast of Pentecost!
