Solemnity of Pentecost
Massimo Palombella
Today’s celebration, 50 days after Easter, concludes the Easter season.
The Jews celebrated the feast “of weeks”, seven weeks after the Passover and this feast was originally about giving thanks for the harvest and, in time, giving thanks for the proclamation of the Law on Sinai, fifty days after the liberation from slavery in Egypt. The event of the Christian Pentecost, narrated in Acts 2:1-41 takes place in the context of this Jewish feast.
In the early days of the Church, Pentecost was considered in the unitary perspective of Easter, of which the fiftieth day was precisely the closure. In the 7th century, Pentecost began to be celebrated as a memorial of the descent of the Holy Spirit and became an autonomous feast with an octave disconnected from the unitary and vital relationship with the Paschal Mystery. The Liturgical Reform of the Second Vatican Council abolished the octave and restored the celebration of Pentecost to its original meaning.
Pentecost is the fulfilment of the Incarnation, the “moment of entering into communion with the nature of the Word, that is, of passing from the natural life of before to that which transcends human existence, and we could not arrive at this except by becoming sharers in the Holy Spirit” (from the “Commentary on the Gospel of John” by St Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop [Lib. 10; PG 74, 434]).
The separation from Jesus that took place at the Ascension brings us the gift of the Holy Spirit that we receive in order to “know”, to be able to slowly establish that personal relationship with the Lord that makes us truly capable, as the Apostles were, of living for Him, of doing the Truth, of facing our fears, of carrying our burdens, of being, in essence, the persons we can and should be.
The verse of the second Alleluia of today’s celebration has the following text:
Alleluia. Veni sancte spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium:
et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.
(Alleluia. Come, Holy Spirit; fill the hearts of your faithful people,
and enkindle in them the fire of your love).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the “Choeur des moines de l’abbaye de Fontgombault”.
A blessed Sunday, happy Solemnity of Pentecost, and heartfelt greetings.
