Pentecost Sunday

Today's Mass Readings

One of the best descriptions I have heard about how to understand the Holy Trinity speaks of the love of the Father and the Son being so strong that this bond of love is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. So, the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between Father and Son. Consider what this means when we think about Jesus’ sending of the Holy Spirit upon his Church, which we celebrate today in the Solemnity of Pentecost. It means that we, the disciples of Christ, are drawn into the embrace that is the Communion of the Holy Trinity. We become part of the family, so to speak. This reflects our ultimate destiny, as members of the Church, the Body of Christ. As members of Christ’s body, we are truly united with him, like branches on a vine (an image Jesus uses in the Gospel of John). But Jesus is God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, and so as members of the Body of Christ, the Love that flows in the Communion of the Holy Trinity also flows through us.

This is what God is trying to teach us in giving us His Commandments. The commandments’ purpose is to teach what love is and how to love truly—beginning with “Love God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” All the commandments are meant to teach us to love and to prepare us for this sharing in the Communion of the Holy Trinity, because this Communion is love, and without love, we can’t share in it.

Also, we see in today’s first reading that the Apostles went from being fearful and hiding before receiving the Holy Spirit, to being fearless and willing to proclaim their faith publicly to bring others to faith. Those of us who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation have received this same spirit, though probably without the drama that accompanied the first sending. Confirmation completes Baptismal grace and gives us the grace to spread and defend the faith, just as the Apostles did at the first Pentecost. We should make sure to cultivate that same grace within us, so that we take our part in the spreading of the Gospel.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB