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May 27, 2023It could be argued that our celebration of Pentecost is somewhat anticlimactic. After 40 days of preparation for Easter and 50 days of celebrating Easter itself, and with significant attention paid to the Ascension, we get to Pentecost, and then, poof, it’s over. It’s extended a little bit by the fact that we now have the memorial of Mary, the mother of the church the day after Pentecost. That said, we used to have an entire octave in which to celebrate the Holy Spirit, so one might feel as though the Holy Spirit is given the short shrift.
The catechism of the Catholic Church describes Pentecost as follows: “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: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.” It’s that spirit of abundance that jumps out to me as I ask the Lord what he might be calling us to focus on and live in as we enter into ordinary time.
The abundance of grace poured out at Pentecost must have found somewhere to go. In a certain sense, ordinary time was the time where the apostles took the graces received at Pentecost and brought them out into the world. So too must we take what we have received this Easter season and bring it with us into the world. What did God do in your life during this past Lent and Easter season? The motto of the Dominican order is “to hand on the fruits of contemplation.“ We may not be Dominicans, but we can all hand on some of the fruits of what we have received from the Lord, so that others can share in our joy. May the grace of Pentecost reign always in our parishes and in our homes.
Prayers always,
Fr. McC
