PENTECOST SUNDAY

Gospel Bullet Points: (Readings: Acts 2:1-11/1 Cor 12:3-7;12-13/John 20:19-23)

• The readings for today’s Pentecost Sunday celebration insinuate the role of the Holy Spirit in the early Church and the present.
• GOSPEL READING: We are told in today’s Gospel that after Jesus’ death, the disciples were so afraid of the Jews that they hid in a locked room. But Jesus appeared and breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit transformed them, and they began preaching fearlessly. The Spirit continues to transform us so that we, too, can proclaim and share the good news. The Feast of Pentecost reminds us of the power of the Holy Spirit renewing our life as an individual and as a community, given the mission that the Lord has given us – to tell the world of his love.
• FIRST READING: The Acts of the Apostles describes how the Jews understood the disciples, through the Spirit’s power, though the disciples were speaking in their tongues of the mighty acts of God—a clear manifestation of the Spirit’s power in the transformation of those who wish to follow the Lord through the good news.
• SECOND READING: The reading from the letter to the Corinthians reminds us that these gifts of the Spirit were given not only to the original disciples and their hearers but were also given to us all. As the apostle Paul exclaims, “We were all given to drink of one Spirit.” Through the Spirit’s presence, we are, in Paul’s words, a “new creation” and “temples of the Spirit.”
• Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of a new life, a new enthusiasm, and a new vision to bring the good news to others.