Feast of Pentecost:

Feast day : 19 May

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost. When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished and the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples who were gathered together in one place. While awaiting the Spirit, all these, with one accord, had devoted themselves to prayer alongwith Mother Mary, the mother of Christ.

On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly on Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim the mighty works of God, and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age. Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptised received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity.

On the day of Pentecost, the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and so it is also celebrated as the day of the birth of the Church. Following the descend of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, the spread of the Gospel began through preaching among the nations. As the convocation of all men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them. So that she can fulfill her mission, the Holy Spirit bestows upon the Church varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her. Henceforward the Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility and self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is on earth the seed and the beginning of that kingdom.