Pastor’s Corner – May 20

Pastor’s Corner – May 20

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“After Easter Sunday, Christmas is the second-greatest feast in the Christian liturgical calendar, but Pentecost Sunday is not far behind. Coming 50 days after Easter and ten days after the Ascension of Our Lord, Pentecost marks the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. For that reason, it is often called the “the birthday of the Church.”  

Pentecost Sunday is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, celebrated early enough to be mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (20:16) and St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (16:8). It supplants the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which took place 50 days after the Passover and which celebrated the sealing of the Old Covenant on Mount Sinai.

For Christians, Pentecost is the 50th day after Easter (if we count both Easter and Pentecost). That means that it is a moveable feast—a feast whose date changes every year, based on the date of Easter in that year. The earliest possible date for Pentecost Sunday is May 10; the latest is June 13.

On Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they were granted the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts helped them to fulfill their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations. For us, too, those gifts—granted when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God in our souls—help us to live a Christian life.” (About.com/Catholicism)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this regarding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit “The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”  “…They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.  They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them.  They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations. (CCC 1830-1831)”

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are enumerated in Isaiah 11:2-3. They are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ but are found in all Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God within us—as, for example, when we receive a sacrament worthily. As the current Catechism of the Catholic Church (para. 1831) notes, “They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them.” Infused with His gifts, we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself would.

 

Next week we will look closer at the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless,

Fr. David