Pentecost Sunday

A most blessed Pentecost Sunday to all! Today we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Our Lady and the Apostles gathered in the upper room after Our Lord’s Ascension, awaiting the promised coming of the Paraclete. This day marks the official birthday of the Church, whereon She was endowed with the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, set alight with His holy fire and fully equipped to begin Her mission in the world.

Pentecost occurs fifty days after Easter, the title itself deriving from the Greek word pentekoste (“fiftieth”), which originally referred to the Jewish Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot, celebrated fifty days after Passover. The vestments of the day are red in honor of the Holy Spirit, and, like Easter, the liturgy is preceded by a Vigil, includes a Sequence and is followed by an Octave. The day is also called Whitsunday, a reference to the white garments of the neophytes baptized during the Vigil.

Paráclitus autem Spíritus Sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nómine meo, ille vos docébit ómnia, et súggeret vobis ómnia quæcúmque díxero vobis.

But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.