Faith Embraced

Today being the fiftieth day after Easter and ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Christians worldwide celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Though not realized by many, Pentecost Sunday actually holds much joy and anticipation as Easter does, as it was a long awaited promise that was finally fulfilled. 

Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus instructed His apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the ‘promise of His Father’, which was to be fulfilled in a few days. After the ascension, they returned from Mt. Olivet to the Upper Room where they spent their time in continuous prayer and worship in the temple. 

In Jewish tradition, Moses awakened his people in the middle of the night in order to proclaim the Law of God to them. For this reason, in preparation for the Feast of Pentecost, Jews would keep an all-night vigil during which they read the harvest and covenant themes from the Scriptures. 

We can imagine the Apostles at that all-night vigil. They listened to these prophetic words with avid expectation. Down deep in their hearts they must have sensed their imminent fulfillment, and this did happen on the very next morning.

When they returned from the temple and gathered together in the Upper Room for morning prayers, suddenly the Holy Spirit descended upon them, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles:

‘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 descended upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according to what the Holy Spirit gave them to speak.’ [Acts 2:2-4]

On this day, the apostles received the gifts of the Spirit and were empowered by these. They began to preach the Gospel in all of the languages the Jews spoke, and about 3,000 people were converted and baptized that day.

That is why Pentecost is also called “the birthday of the Church.” On this day, with the descent of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s mission is completed, and the New Covenant is inaugurated. 

Pentecost is a constant reminder of our own “baptism by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5), which we received at the time of our Confirmation. As the priest, anointing our body with the holy chrism, pronounced the words: “Be Sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit,” the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon us, empowering us to be witness of Christ and defenders of the faith. While our body is anointed with visible ointment, our soul becomes sanctified by the Holy Spirit that gives us a new divine life and strength. We became a living “temple of the Holy Spirit.” (I Cor. 6:19)

The divine life is the life of grace, making us “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4) and true children of God: “The spirit you receive is not the spirit of slaves—but the spirit of children, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit Himself gives testimony to our own spirit that we are children of God!” (Rom. 8:15-16), then, is our own “Pentecost” when Jesus Christ pours upon us the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to “live a life worthy of our Christian calling” (Eph. 4:10) as the children of God. 

Ref: 

http://www.byzantines.net/feasts/pentecost.htm, http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Pentecost.htm