Activation of the Holy Spirit

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Pentecost. I think a lot of us have heard this word before but are not very familiar with it.

This is one of the three great Jewish feasts along with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles Feast of Pentecost for the people of God in the time of Jesus and before was a celebration of the end of the Passover where they would offer the first fruits of their harvest to God in thanksgiving. This would happen 50 days after the end of the week of Passover. Hence why it is called “Pentecost”

But for us Christians, 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ, we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise of sending the Church the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

And on this day, the Apostles and entire people of God at that time are waiting in that upper room anxiously for the Holy Spirit to be poured out. Finally, when the Holy Spirit arrives, the Church is Born.

I remember teaching the Holy Trinity in Catechism and First Communion. We would always try our best to teach it correctly and in a way for all the children to understand.

God exists as Three Distinct Persons with One Divine Nature: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can associate God the Father as sort of the main character of the Old Testament in Creation and preparing for the coming of Jesus. We can associate God the Son, Jesus Christ, as being present in the New Testament as savior and perfect image of God.

But I don’t think many of us remember the Holy Spirit much. There’s a lot of things that remain unclear. We look to God the Father as ordering our life and providing and Jesus as our Savior and Messiah but what about the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God who is the Giver of Life. This life which all the children of the Church are born from. The Holy Spirit is the God who binds us in the church in unity.

The Holy Spirit is given to us at Baptism but confirmed in us at our Confirmation. The concern of the disciples is that Jesus is leaving, not where he is going! In fact he is going not to abandon. He is going so he can bring all in to Him.

The Holy Spirit is sent to us for this purpose:

Convince

Guide

Glorify Christ & Us

So if you’re wondering, we are in the AGE of the Holy Spirit now. We are in the stage where the Holy Spirit is the main character.

We by virtue of our Confirmation can call upon the Spirit to be convinced, to be guided, and that God can be glorified in us and we can be glorified through Him.