Pentecost

Pentecost

In the Christian litany of feasts, Pentecost falls 50 days after Easter and ushers in the Season of Pentecost, the longest season of the church year,  which will last until Christ the King Sunday on November 24th.

Pentecost (from the Greek word pentekoste which means fiftieth) finds its roots in the Old Testament. The biblical outline for the Jewish festival, Shavuot, or Feast of Weeks is articulated in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23:15-21, the Book of Numbers 28:26-31 and the Book of Deuteronomy 16:9-12. Traditionally a grain harvest festival, over time, it also became a commemoration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

According to the second chapter of Acts, Shavuot was the reason why the multitudes of Jews were gathered in Jerusalem on the day the Holy Spirit arrived.. Acts 2:9-10 lists the native regions of the masses, they were "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs."

3,000+ lives were forever changed that day, as the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and after a powerful sermon from Peter, many believed and were baptized. This remarkable event is what the church celebrates on Pentecost, but the joy and celebration of Pentecost sometimes overlooks the Third Person of the Trinity for whom this day is now named.

Jesus told them, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20), his presence was made palpable through the Holy Spirit’s descent as a mighty wind, sparking tongues of fire above the disciples who recognized Jesus as being among them. They, being Baptized with the Holy Spirit, began the mission of the church.

So we find ourselves 2024 years after that first Pentecost, celebration that singular event, but also living that eternal presence—God the holy Spirit!

Didymus the Blind (c. 313 – 398) was a theologian and teacher of great renown. A confidant of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, most of his writing are lost to time, but a few precious manuscripts have survived. Concerning the Holy Spirit he wrote,

The name Holy Spirit expresses the underlying uncreated substance and essence of the Father and the Son. Like Father and Son, the Spirit is incorporeal, uncircumscribed, impassable, indivisible, immutable, incorruptible, everlasting and “goodness itself.”  The Father, Son, and Spirit share a singular divine substance, power and activity. The Father, Son and Spirit exist in a partnership of nature and will.

The Holy Spirit is sent through the identical will of the Father and Son. The Son and the Spirit share an identical nature (substance) but have different activities and distinct intra-trinitarian relationships.

He continues,

The Holy Spirit is poured forth which indicates the outpouring of the singular, uncreated and undivided substance of God. This outpouring illuminates the mind, empowers the speech, and signifies a “lavish gift of great bounty and abundance.” The Spirit gives of the Spirits unlimited self. Recipients are filled with the Spirit and are participants in the Spirits fullness.

The Holy Spirit is to be encountered by the faithful. The doctrine of the Spirit as a Divine Person has its basis in the experience of the early Christians –  they experienced the Holy Spirit as a person in a personal way.

This is the season of Pentecost—the season of the Holy Spirit.

Stop now and re-read the words of Didymus,

The Holy Spirit is poured forth which indicates the outpouring of the singular, uncreated and undivided substance of God--in YOU. 

In your prayer time, pray to connect with the Holy Spirit. Look for God between the words of your prayers, the syllables of your mind. Accept the presence of divine love and know you are touching the face of God.

The Spirit gives of the Spirits unlimited self. Recipients are filled with the Spirit and are participants in the Spirits fullness.
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Jesus said,

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.          John 16:16-20

In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti,
Fr. Bill+