Forgotten Birthday?

Forgotten Birthday?

Gospel for the Feast of Pentecost: John 20. 19-23

We so looked forward to this long weekend, didn't we? Maybe it was the long winter, but it sure felt good to be outside and enjoy the warm weather. At our place, it meant planting, planting and more planting, leaving both of us tired but content by evening.
So we Canadians enjoy our "May long." That's what many like to call it- I guess "Victoria Day long weekend" is just too many words for our Tweeting culture.
Did we even think about Queen Victoria?? Why do we have the day? You can check

Wikipedia 

if you are interested. In Quebec, it's "Patriot's Day", and there is a petition going around to change the name to "Victoria and First People's Day".

But that's not the "forgotten birthday" upon which we should reflect.

It just so happens that this weekend we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost.

The birthday of the Church.

The Feast the World Ignores

Here's what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about Pentecost:

On the day of Pentecost, when the seven weeks of Easter had come

to an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy
 


Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person...
 

...Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to



those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they

already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity... (731;732)
 

No Santa Claus. No Easter Bunny. Just the opportunity of life eternal withe Blessed Trinity!!!

We who are disciples of the Risen Lord can only claim discipleship because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, one could say, completes the "trinity" or our great feasts and is indivisible from the other two.

Without the Incarnation (Christmas), the Triduum (Passion and Resurrection) have no root, no "flesh". Without the Triduum, Christmas is a memorial of a great prophet, not the birth of our Redeemer. And without Pentecost, the life death and Resurrection of Christ has no power in my life- and in my death. Because of Pentecost, I enter into the life of the Trinity.

And the world will continue to ignore Pentecost because the reality is too beautiful and sacred.

New Beginning of the REAL "New Age"

The Church sees the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as the beginning of the "end of times"- not as scary as it sounds. What it means is that the Reign of God is both "here" and "to come".

 

For the People of God, Pentecost is the bookend of salvation history revealed in Sacred Scripture. Two points illustrates this. In the first reading on Sunday from Acts  (2.1-11), the Holy Spirit came to them "like the rush of a violent wind", and "divided tongues as of fire, appeared among them." The Holy Spirit gave them His gifts, and they were able to proclaim the Good News to everyone. Language was not a barrier!!

 

Now contrast this scene with the other bookend- Genesis 11. The Tower of Babel tells the continuing story of original sin- this time the sin of the nations wanting to build a city that would make them gods of their own destiny. God had other plans, and so it was that languages became a barrier and they were scattered.

 

Pentecost, the beginning of the Church, is the feast of communion, or at least the opportunity if we choose it.

 

Now your turn. Read and pray over these two "bookends"- Genesis 1.1-3 and John 20.21-23.

 

Happy Birthday, People of God.

Happy Birthday, Body of Christ.

Happy Birthday, Temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

FOR THIS WEEK

 

 

For Catholic educators: Bring cake, donuts or cupcakes for your class or staff. When they ask what the occasion is, tell them!

 

 

For all of us: In you prayers this week, thank God for the gift that is the Church, both the universal and the local. Ask for forgiveness for the times when you've said something against the Church and it's teachings. Why? Because you are not outside of it. You are part of it.