Pentecost commemorates and celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the apostles gathered together in the Upper Room. After Easter, the Church considers this solemnity the most important moment of the entire liturgical year. Here are seven things to know to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit, to encounter him with greater constancy and trust, so that he may fill us with his gifts.
1. The Jewish origins of the feast
Literally, the word Pentecost means the 50th (day) in Greek. Initially, the Jewish people celebrated it fifty days after Passover. It was an agricultural feast that coincided with the beginning of the wheat harvest and the first fruits. It is also called the “Feast of Weeks” because it occurred seven weeks after Passover.
The original purpose of this celebration was to give thanks to God for the fruits of the earth. Later, the commemoration of the gift of the Law was added: the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets and given to Moses on Mount Sinai, an event that marked the birth of the people of Israel. In Jewish ritual, the feast involved complete abstention from any work, the pilgrimage of men to Jerusalem, a sacred assembly, and special sacrifices. It was one of the three pilgrimage feasts (Passover, Booths, Pentecost), which every devout Jew was invited to celebrate each year in Jerusalem.
2. The new meaning of the Christian solemnity
In Christianity, Pentecost loses its Jewish meaning and instead designates the descent of the Holy Spirit, sent by God to his faithful, fifty days after Easter. Tertullian (155-220) provides the first testimony of Pentecost as a special feast in honor of the Holy Spirit. By the end of the fourth century, the custom had arisen of administering Baptism on the eve of this feast to those who had been unable to receive it on Easter night. In the West, during the Carolingian era, the Octave of Pentecost appeared, while it was already present in the East.
Pius XII’s reform in 1955 retained only the celebration of Holy Mass. The celebration of the octave of the feast was also abolished, concluding the liturgical celebration on the evening of Pentecost.
3. Where to find the Bible passage that recounts Pentecost
The most famous account of the descent of the Holy Spirit is found in chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles. The apostles together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, were gathered in Jerusalem in the Upper Room, where they then customarily gathered whenever they were in the city. As was customary, large numbers of Jews had flocked to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost with the prescribed pilgrimage. The text reads: «When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place. Suddenly, a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. Then tongues as of fire appeared, which separated and came to rest on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to express themselves».
The sacred text continues with Peter’s first preaching. Thus begins the journey of the Word of God, which, starting from Jerusalem, is proclaimed throughout the centuries to men and women in every place and situation, so that they may experience a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
4. The symbols of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is undoubtedly the most mysterious and unknown person of the Trinity. When, in fact, we think of God the Father, we are helped by our experience of human fatherhood; when we speak of the Son, Jesus Christ, we remember that he was human like us and the features of his humanity conveyed to us by the Gospel; but when we speak of the Holy Spirit, our imagination falters… yet the Bible helps us with comparisons. These symbolic elements help us move from the things we see and hear toward the invisible.
The most important are: wind, fire, water, and the dove. As Jesus says, he is wind «that blows where it wills; you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes» (Jn 3:8), and in this we perceive his freedom. He is breath, the breath of life: and in this we sense his strength. Again, he is fire that sets the heart ablaze and purifies; he is “living water,” flowing from the heart of crucified Christ and the source of life and fruitfulness.
The Spirit is like a dove. In Genesis, we read that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters and that a dove brought Noah an olive branch (Gen 8:11), announcing the end of the universal flood and the beginning of salvation and a new era of peace between God and humanity. In the Gospel, we find the dove at the Annunciation and at Jesus’ baptism. Its meaning is reconciliation between God and humanity, marking a new beginning, a new creation.
5. Who is the Holy Spirit
Many images are used to say something about the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit is not something: he is Someone. He is not an object: he is a Subject. He is a person: an “I” who is an abyss filled with love, joy, peace, wisdom, and life. To help people understand who the Holy Spirit is, Saint Bernard said: «If we imagine the Father kissing the Son and the Son receiving the kiss, we can say that the Holy Spirit is that kiss - the kiss of love». Saint Augustine wonderfully summarized the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity in this way: the Lover, the Beloved, Love. The Spirit is the love that God pours into us. It is the love that ignites Jesus’ words within us. It is the love that teaches us what is good, holy, and pleasing to God.
6. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is «God’s greatest gift to humanity, and therefore the supreme testimony of his love for us» (Benedict XVI), and this love, Saint Paul reminds us, «has been poured into our hearts» (Rom 5:5), and we have become «a temple of the Holy Spirit» (1 Cor 6:19).
The Holy Spirit is the inexhaustible giver of gifts, and according to the teaching of the prophet Isaiah, seven are attributed to him: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God.
In the life of a Christian, these gifts are received through the grace of Baptism and confirmed by the sacrament of Confirmation.
7. When to invoke the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, received through Baptism, is a gift that the Father is always ready to give us when we ask him. For this reason, Pope Francis says that it is important not to forget the Holy Spirit in our prayer: «We often pray to Jesus; we pray to the Father, especially in the “Our Father”; but we do not pray to the Holy Spirit as often, do we? He is the forgotten one. And we need to ask for his help, his strength, his inspiration», as well as «to place our Christian lives and the mission we have all received through Baptism under the action of the Holy Spirit».
When words are hard to find, we can simply whisper to him: «Come, Holy Spirit!» or use one of the most beautiful prayers of invocation contained in the magnificent and evocative hymn “Veni Creator,” attributed to the archbishop of Mainz, Rabanus Maurus, and dating back to the ninth century. It is a hymn that combines prayer, meditation, and invocation, and you can find it in some resources on our website, together with countless prayers from yesterday and today!
May the Holy Spirit himself, the teacher of prayer, teach us the way of prayer!
Happy Pentecost!
