The name and timing of Pentecost is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. The Jewish Feast of Pentecost was a celebration of the harvest of the first fruits. In the Book of Leviticus, we are told that Pentecost fell fifty days after the Sabbath following the Passover. It was a festival celebrating the harvest and thanking God for providing them with food. The Jewish Feast of Pentecost was a time when crowds would flock to Jerusalem and the Temple.
It was on this Jewish Feast of Pentecost that God did something totally unexpected and new for the followers of Jesus. On the day of his Ascension Jesus instructed the Apostles to go back to Jerusalem and wait and pray, where they would “be clothed with power from on high,” and would receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t tell them how long they were to wait and pray. I wonder what thoughts they had as they gathered each day in the upper room to pray, when nothing extraordinary seemed to happen. Most likely there was some uncertainty, but their experience of being with the risen Lord the previous forty days undoubtedly strengthened their faith and gave them a new confidence in listening to the Lord’s words.
And so it came to pass that on Pentecost when they gathered for their tenth day of prayer, while their fellow Jews were celebrating the harvest, the apostles experienced something more powerful and lasting in that upper room. The Holy Spirit came to them just as Jesus had told them, and with tongues of fire they received “power from on high.” They celebrated the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. This was a harvest far beyond their expectation, and one that we continue to reap. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that blessed them with the various and particular gifts they each needed to carry out the mission Christ had given them. They found the boldness to leave the upper room and to go out and proclaim the message of Jesus, to heal the sick, cast out demons, stand up to the authorities who tried to silence them, and many other mighty deeds.
For three years the disciples had followed Jesus, slowly grasping all that he was teaching them. Almost to the very end, some thought that Jesus had come to restore the kingdom of Israel but now he was gone, having ascended to heaven. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit provided them with an “aha” moment that opened their eyes and hearts to the depth of what Jesus had been teaching them all along.
We celebrate this feast not only as a piece of history but to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in our midst as well, endeavoring to teach us everything we need to know that will deepen our relationship with God. Since the Holy Spirit is here to teach, that makes us students. Now think back to all the classes you have taken. In any class, there are students who believe they know it all, or don’t feel compelled to learn anything new. They are comfortable with what they know. Some students are simply bored and uninterested. They aren’t inspired to put in the work to learn something new.
Might that describe your attitude? There are many who could be considered culturally Catholic, the product of a religious education program or a parochial school but definitely not a believer. For them, being a Catholic is more of an identity than a commitment. They remind me of students who don’t feel compelled to learn more about our Catholic faith.
Think of the Holy Spirit as the one sent by Jesus to help you learn more about the faith we share. At baptism we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are sealed and strengthened within us at confirmation. According to Catholic tradition, there are seven in number, but how many do we remember?
To refresh your memory, these are the gifts we each received: wisdom to help us recognize the importance of others and the importance of keeping God central in our lives; understanding, which is the ability to comprehend the meaning of God’s message; knowledge, which is the ability to think about and explore God’s revelation; counsel, that is, the ability to see the best way to follow God’s plan when we have choices that relate to him; fortitude, which is the courage to do what one knows is right; piety, which helps us pray to God with true devotion; and last but not least, fear of the Lord, that feeling of amazement before God, who is all present, and whose friendship we do not want to lose.
When we use the gifts we received from the Holy Spirit, we grow as followers of Jesus Christ. We see the effect of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives in special qualities and attitudes we develop as we grow in faith. The Church identifies them as fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. They work as a counterpart to the seven capital sins.
The Hebrew word for Spirit is ruah, which means breath or wind. Just as we rarely think about our breathing, we hardly think about the Spirit, yet without either, we cannot live. The Spirit is what gives life to our relationship with God, just as it gives life to the bond of love between the Father and the Son. Listen to the Holy Spirit in your quiet prayer time as it empowers you to live and proclaim your faith by what you say and do. To be a disciple of the Risen One is to be attuned to the direction of God’s spirit, which animates us to do the work of the Gospel, bringing God’s love and life into our broken world.