The Feast of Pentecost

Picture source Mary Your Mother

The following is from St. Michael's Center for the Blessed Virgin Mary Please visit their site for prayers, novenas, etc. to the Holy Spirit.

The Catholic community honors the Pentecost Sunday on May 27. This is one of the greatest feast of Christianity which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Disciples; the completion of the work of redemption; the fullness of grace for the Church and its children; and the gifts of faith for all nations. It is celebrated fifty days after the resurrection of Christ.

The descent upon the apostles was internal and invisible in nature although accompanied by certain visible phenomena. There came a mighty roar, like the onrush of a violent wind. It came suddenly, from heaven; but unlike storms that strike a structure from without, this one penetrated and filled the room where the disciples were gathered. Therefore it was not a natural wind, it was a miracle peculiar to the occasion. A second visible sign consisted in tongues of fire that descended upon each one present. These fiery tongues gave visible evidence that the Holy Spirit had descended upon them.

The celebration of Pentecost Sunday reminds us of the reality that we are all God-breathed with the unifying Spirit that was poured out upon the First Church. It is a reminder that we are co-heirs with Christ, to suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him; that the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good; that we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body and the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead lives inside believers. This gift of the Holy Spirit that was promised and given to all on the first Pentecost is promised for you and your children and for all who are far off whom the Lord our God will call.