Welcome More info

Saint Rock the Healer Mission Center

Monday, May 23, 2011

CELEBRATING THE PENTECOST

CELEBRATING THE PENTECOST

There are three "mega-festivals" commemorated in the Christian calendar. The first two, Christmas and Easter, are well known to both believers and non-believers. But it's possible that even liturgical Christians may not be as familiar with the third, the festival of Pentecost. God the Father's wonderful Christmas gift of His one and only Son, and Christ's Easter triumph over the power of sin, death, and the devil would be of no benefit to us if the Holy Spirit did not give us the gift of saving faith. Through the Word and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to believe and trust in Christ as our Savior. This precious gift of faith in the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ is the reason Pentecost is the third "mega-festival" of the church and why we celebrate it with such joy and thanksgiving.

As it is stated in CCC: “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." (Catechism of the Catholic Church §731)

This is truly an occasion for a celebration! And there has been a long tradition of special celebrations and feasting on Pentecost.

What do we mean by Pentecost?

The word 'Pentecost' comes from the Greek; it simply means 'fiftieth'. Pentecost Sunday ends the season of Easter; it is the sabbath day after a week's worth of weeks (7 x 7 = 49). This year, it's on 12 June 2011.

Pentecost grew from what was originally a festival marking the first grain harvest of the Middle Eastern year, marked by a sacrifice to the gods from the first part of that first harvest. In very ancient Palestine, this first-fruit sacrifice was tightly tied into the religions of the gods of power and fertility (both in farming and in sex). As the Jews grew to understand themselves as followers of the one and only true God, they created ways to be thankful to that God, Yahweh, for the first harvest, without the pagan trappings. The celebration became a mini-pilgrimage, or chag, where they would stay at their region's shrine, bringing with them grain loaves and young livestock for sacrifices. As the Jewish kings started to centralize religious activity into Jerusalem (a process that took several centuries), this pilgrimage and sacrifice was brought there, with all the songs, processions, liturgies and pageantry that Jerusalem did so well. To them, the 50-day period was the week's worth of weeks after the Unleavened Bread (Passover). Passover recalled hard times and rescue by God, hence the unleavened bread; Pentecost (Shavu'ot) was the celebration of a blessing of harvest, and its joy was symbolized by leavening the bread. The festival began to take on another religious role around the time of the Exile. Because Exodus 19:1 describes the arrival of the Jewish people at Sinai as being at about that time of year, Pentecost was used to mark the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Over time, the Torah became more prominent in Feast of Weeks celebrations.

Now, fast-forward to Jesus' time. As Luke reports it, the believers had gathered together after Jesus returned to the Father. Not just the 12 disciples, but about 120 of them. They were talking, remembering, praying, wondering what was next. (They had just been through several of the strangest months there ever were.) On the morning of Pentecost, they came out of the room, and started telling the people they met about Jesus, lit up by the Holy Spirit. The streets were full of people from many places, mostly there for the holy day, some still hanging around from Passover. When each of them heard the witnesses speak, they heard it in their own language! (That is, if they were allowing themselves to listen; otherwise, they heard babbling, as shown by the remarks about drunkenness.) What was being told, for the first time in full form, was the good news of Jesus and what it means for all people. But more than words : the words were being carried with power and authority by the Holy Spirit into the ears and the hearts of those who are listening. About 3000 new people join their ranks. This is the first fruits of a new kind of harvest, and the giving of a new covenant of grace that fulfils the covenant of the Torah.

What happened on Pentecost?

Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the twelve apostles, Jesus' mother and family, and many other of His disciples gathered together in Jerusalem for the Jewish harvest festival that was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. While they were indoors praying, a sound like that of a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. This was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on human flesh promised by God through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29). The disciples were suddenly empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. They went out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching to the crowds gathered for the festival. Not only did the disciples preach with boldness and vigor, but by a miracle of the Holy Spirit they spoke in the native languages of the people present, many who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire. This created a sensation. The apostle Peter seized the moment and addressed the crowd, preaching to them about Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. The result was that about three thousand converts were baptized that day. (You can read the Biblical account of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-41).

How is the Spirit's Presence Different at Pentecost?

Pentecost was not the first time the Spirit was ‘active’. The Spirit had been working all along in humans who listened, giving them guidance, teaching, shedding light on the mysteries of life, and causing prophecies. The Spirit struck home powerfully in John the Baptist's message, and came in full force upon Jesus at the baptism which began Jesus' public ministry. Jesus was a man who was overflowing with the Spirit, and it showed in whatever He did -- the teaching, the healings, the suffering and the death, the return and the leaving. John's Gospel even mentions that Jesus had blown the Spirit onto each of His disciples before leaving. But Pentecost was the first day that the Spirit took hold of the followers of Christ as a group or "body", and came to stay. It was the first time the Spirit's raw power was there in anyone who followed Christ, not just the Twelve.

The Church Gets a Mission

Pentecost was not the first time Jesus' believers had acted together. They did so during His ministry, and did so by gathering in the house just before Pentecost. But it was the first time they had a complete message, an empowered mission or purpose, and a unity that came from beyond themselves. Before, they were just another small circle of people following a leader around; now, they had become the church, an entity that would eventually be measured in billions. The difference: the arrival of the Holy Spirit in force, to join them together.

The ‘Debabelizer’

One of the images that Acts leaves us with is that of all these people from all sorts of places, hearing and understanding the message in their own language. This is a reversal of the Tower of Babel, where a single language became a wide variety of languages and the 'message' of human hubris (excess pride) called 'the Tower of Babel' could no longer be heard or understood.

Only The Spirit Gives Life

Another striking image of the Spirit and the Spirit's work comes from the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a Jew in exile after Babylon has conquered and scattered his people, away from the land of God's promise. Earlier (33:10), Ezekiel had asked, 'how then can we live'? If their evil deeds had caused them to be forever cut off from God, the answer is that they can't. Thankfully, God has a different vision of it, and shared it with Ezekiel. First, God tells Ezekiel to proclaim to a field of dead bones. He does, and something really weird happens : the bones come together, then muscles, joints, skin, eyes, even nose hairs. Real, whole bodies form from the Word. But they are still dead. Then, Ezekiel speaks again at God's command, calling on the wind for the breath to go into the dead bodies, to make them alive. The breath (that is, 'spirit') of God is what makes all life live. And it is what will bring God's people back home, to once again live as a people. And so it was; the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are accounts of a dead nation at the moment it came back to life. The message of the Christian Pentecost is that the Breath that makes life live has been let loose among us by Jesus the Messiah. Through this Jesus and the Spirit He sent, not only is death ultimately dead, but life becomes more fully alive.

Are we in This Ongoing Pentecost?

When I'm talking about the church here, I'm not speaking of a hierarchy or a structure. I'm talking about people who are called to be together in order to share Jesus' love. If you believe in Jesus and are baptized, then you're a part of that called-together group, something much bigger than you are. Being a part of it means you have the Holy Spirit at work in you. And, that means you have tasks that the Lord wants you to do, and you have been given what it takes to do them. You are to listen for the Spirit's leading, through the Scriptures God gave for you. The liberating, ear-popping spiritual event of Pentecost was the first fruit of something that continues to this day, and beyond.

Some of you are just wondering about this faith; you find it weird, intriguing, or perhaps just puzzling. God meant for you to be in this, too. But you are not like the 120 from the upper room; you are more like the people who were in the crowd that Pentecost day. Some 3000 of those in the crowd changed course and became believers. A few griped. Some debated it among themselves. But most people in Jerusalem didn't even notice, or saw it and went on with their holy-day daily grind.

How Is Pentecost Celebrated?

In the English tradition particularly at the United Kingdom, the day is sometimes known as Whitsunday. This refers to the white robes of those baptized on this day. In liturgical churches, confirmation of youths marks the fulfillment of the promises about faith made by parents and parish at infant baptism. Exodus 19, the Jewish Feast of Weeks reading, is a passage used by Christians and Jews in their confirmation rites. Thus, many parishes hold confirmation ceremonies on Pentecost or during that week. Pentecost is not just a day for baptism, but also for evangelism, for spreading the Word boldly in person to other people, just like on the first Christian Pentecost.

The church used to celebrate Pentecost all week, right through to the next Sunday worship services. Today, it's usually only marked for Pentecost Sunday itself, and in some places also on Monday. The rest of the Church year, until Advent, is named by Protestants as the Sundays after Pentecost, although technically, the entire history of the Church is 'after Pentecost', or at least after the first one. (We Catholics call it 'Ordinary Time', and the Sundays are numbered in order until the next season comes.) During that period, Christians follow the life of Jesus through Bible readings (the lectionary) and sermons (homilies), in order to learn what it means to live as followers of Christ. Christians celebrate the Spirit that Jesus sent in His stead, and use the gifts that this Spirit has given us in order to build up each other, the church as a whole, and the society as a whole.

Pentecost is not a solemn occasion. It's a time for vigor, excitement, energy, movement, birth, fresh air and fresh commitment. If Pentecost has a sleepy feel to it in your life, wake up!

Here in the Diocese of Catarman, Pentecost Celebration is an occasion where all walks of life gather together, families get together to celebrate by singing hymns, but you might like praise-and-worship or gospel songs or campground songs of faith or spirituals, songs the even kids can sing along with and above all pray that the Holy Spirit moves among each and all who present in the vigil. Indeed, here in the Diocese of Catarman, it is one of the most important diocesan activity. .

It is a good idea to bear something about the Pentecost celebration into each Sunday until Advent, to act as a reminder: something red, something with a dove symbol, something symbolic of the wind. However, the most important thing about Celebrating Pentecost is to learn what the Spirit does, and to trust that Spirit to lead us as we continue our pilgrimage here on earth.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Design by Wordpress Theme | Bloggerized by Free Blogger Templates | coupon codes