Pentecost (Whit)
Sunday
Romans, Chapter 8, verse 14-15
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall
back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we
cry, “Abba, Father!”
By the sacrifice of Christ, we are the adopted
children of God, who feared none, and by whose sufferings and glory we
share; by reason of the Holy Spirits presence within us. We are thus giving a
new life and relationship with God.
Unconditional
love is known as affection without any limitations, or love without conditions.
This term is sometimes associated with other terms such as true altruism or
complete love. Each area of expertise has a certain way of describing
unconditional love, but most will agree that it is that type of love which has
no bounds and is unchanging. It is a concept comparable to true love, a term
which is generally used to describe love between lovers. Unconditional love is
also used to describe love between family members, comrades in arms and between
others in highly committed relationships. An example of this is a parent's love
for their child; no matter a test score, a life changing decision, an argument,
or a strong belief, the amount of love that remains between this bond is seen
as unchanging and unconditional.
Fifty
days after Easter, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles is one of the
three great feasts of the liturgical year.
What is Pentecost? The solemn anniversary of the day
on which the Holy Ghost came down, under the appearance of fiery tongues, upon
Mary the Mother of Jesus, and His apostles and disciples, who were assembled in
prayer at Jerusalem. To express her joy at the descent of the Holy Ghost, the
Church sings, at the Introit of the Mass, The Spirit of the Lord hath filled
the whole earth, alleluia, and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge
of the voice, alleluia, alleluia. Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered;
and let them that hate Him fly before His face.
Prayer.
O God, Who on this day didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light
of the Holy Spirit, grant that we may be truly wise in the same Spirit, and
ever rejoice in His consolation.
EPISTLE. Acts ii. 1-11.
When
the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one
place: and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming,
and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to
them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: and
they were all lilled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers’
tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were
dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. And
when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded
in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they
were all amazed and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak
Galileans? And how have we heard every man our own tongue wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and in habitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and
Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphilia, Egypt, and the parts of
Lybia about Gyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes,
and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works
of God.
Why does the Church
celebrate this day so solemnly?
To praise and thank God for sending the Holy Ghost, Who gave so many spiritual
graces and fruits to men.
Why did the Holy
Ghost appear under visible signs?
It was done to attract attention, and to indicate outwardly what took place
inwardly. The roar of the mighty wind, according to the language of the
prophets, pointed to the approaching Godhead, and was intended to announce
something extraordinary. The appearance of tongues signified the gift of
languages, and the division of them the difference of gifts imparted by the
Holy Ghost. The fire which lightens, warms, and quickly spreads, denoted the love
of God, the power and joy with which the apostles, and mankind through them,
should be filled, and indicated the rapid extension of Christianity.
What were the effects
of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles? Being enlightened and made acquainted
with all truth, freed from all fear and faint-heartedness, and undaunted, the
apostles preached everywhere Christ crucified, and for love of Him endured with
joy all sufferings. Their discourses were understood by all present, as if they
had carefully learned each particular language. From that time Christianity
spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the whole world. Pray the Holy Ghost
to-day to enlighten you also, to inflame you with holy love, and to give you
strength daily to increase in all goodness.
GOSPEL. John xiv. 23-31.
At that time
Jesus said to His disciples: If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My
Father will love him, arid We will come to him, and will make Our abode with
him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have
heard is not Mine: but the Father s Who sent Me. These things have I spoken to
you, abiding with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your
mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go
away, and I come to you. If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I
go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you
before it came to pass that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. I will
not now speak many things with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and in
Me he hath not anything. But that the world may know that I love the Father:
and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I.
Why is the Holy Ghost called a spirit, and the Holy
Spirit? Because He
proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is as it were, the Spirit of the
Father and the Son.
What does the Holy Ghost effect in men? He renews their hearts, by
cleansing them from sin, by imparting to them the sanctification and likeness
to God gained through Christ, together with all these supernatural gifts and
graces by which they can become holy and happy, and brings forth in them
wonderful fruits of sanctity.
Which are these gifts of the Holy Ghost? The seven following:
1. The gift of wisdom,
which teaches us to value the heavenly more than the earthly, infuses into us a
longing for the same, and points out to us the right means to salvation.
2. The gift of understanding,
which enlightens us to rightly understand the mysteries and doctrines of our
holy religion.
3. The gift of counsel
in doubtful cases, which enables us to know what to do or omit, and what to
advise others. This gift is particularly necessary for superiors, for those who
are changing their state of life, and for those who are entangled in perplexing
and unfortunate marriage relations.
4. The gift of fortitude,
which banishes all timidity and human respect, strengthens a man to hate sin,
and steadfastly to practice virtue; preferring contempt, temporal loss,
persecution, and even death, to denying Christ by word or deed.
5. The gift of knowledge,
by which the Holy Ghost enlightens us with an inner light, that we may know
ourselves, the snares of self-love, of our passions, of the devil, and of the
world, and may choose the fittest means to overcome them.
6. The gift of piety
and devotion, which infuses into us veneration for God and divine things, and
joy in conversing with Him.
7. The gift of
the fear of God, that childlike fear, which dreads no other misfortune
than that of displeasing God, and which, accordingly, flees sin as the greatest
evil.
Which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost? They are the twelve following:
1. Charity.
2.
Joy.
3. Peace.
4. Patience.
5. Benignity.
6. Goodness.
7. Longsuffering.
8. Mildness.
9. Faith.
10. Modesty.
11.
Continency.
12.
Chastity.
These fruits
should be visible in the Christian, for thereby men shall know that the Holy
Ghost dwells in him, as the tree is known by its fruit.
What is Whitsunday or White Sunday? The liturgical color of this
Sunday is red in order to recall the tongues of flame that descended on the
Apostles. The old English name for Pentecost, Whitsunday, originated from the
custom of the newly baptized redonning their white robes for the services of
the day. By extension this could also apply to the new Easter clothes worn by the
faithful fifty days earlier.
The Dove
Like Ascension Thursday, Whitsunday was once
the occasion for several liturgical eccentricities. Many medieval churches, for
example, had a Holy Ghost Hole in the ceiling of the church from which a large
blue disk bearing the figure of a white dove would swing slowly down to the
congregation during the Mass sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Midway through the
sequence, the disk would stop and from the Holy Ghost hole would rain symbols
of the Spirit: flowers, water, even burning pieces of straw. A practice far
less susceptible to excess, on the other hand, is the use of beautifully carved
and painted wooden doves in the home. These figures would usually be suspended
over the dinner table, and would sometimes be encased in glass, having been
assembled entirely from within (much like the wooden ships assembled in
bottles). The painstaking effort that went into making these doves serves as a
reminder to cherish the adoration of the Holy Spirit.
The Blessed Dew
Though the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit is often described in dramatic terms (a mighty wind, tongues
of fire, etc.), it is also portrayed in soothing, comforting ways. The
Whitsunday sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus, for example, calls the Spirit our
"sweet refreshment" (dulcis refrigerium), while the postcommunion
prayer, in an allusion to Isaiah 45.8, refers to the "inward sprinkling of
His heavenly dew." Hence there arose the charming superstition that the
morning dew of Whitsunday is especially good luck. To obtain a blessing, people
would walk barefoot through the meadows before Mass and would even feed their
animals with bread wiped by the dew.
Age of the Holy
Spirit
Where we are is the age of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost
is often called the birthday of the Church because even though the Apostles
were transformed by earlier events such as the institution of the Eucharist and
priesthood on Maundy Thursday or their acquiring the power to forgive sins on
Easter afternoon, they - and by extension, the Church - did not really come
into their own until the Paraclete inspired them to burst out of their closed
quarters and spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And just as Pentecost
marks the birthday of the Church in the Holy Spirit, so too does the Time after
Pentecost mark the life of the Church moving through the vicissitudes of
history under the protection and guidance of that same Spirit. It is for this
reason that the epistle readings from this season emphasize the Apostles'
advice to the burgeoning churches of the day while its Gospel readings focus on
the kingdom of heaven and its justice. It is also the reason why the
corresponding lessons from the breviary draw heavily from the history of the
Israelite monarchy in the Old Testament. All are somehow meant to teach us how
to comport ourselves as citizens of the city of God as we pass through the
kingdoms of this world.
Daily Devotions
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