Pentecost Sunday, Year C

Friends,

            We have come to the culmination of the Easter season with the celebration of today’s feast.

On the ‘fiftieth day’ (‘Pentecost’ in Greek) after Passover, the disciples are back in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot, the Jewish harvest festival commemorating God’s provision and sustenance. But rather than them offering the first fruits of the wheat harvest to the Lord, we see the Lord coming to provide for them in the form of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Lord’s self.

The gift of the promised Advocate of peace, given in the form of breath, will keep us faithful to the Gospel with sustaining life, joy, and renewal as the psalmist attests. It is also given for a good purpose that we might witness the power of the Spirit through lives of faith, service, and unity.

Therefore, this week, let us pray for an outpouring of God’s love into our hearts so that feeling renewed and full of the Lord’s riches, we might willingly go out to share that richness with people around us.

Joy and peace.