[Ordinary of the Mass]
[English Mass Text]
[Latin Mass Text]
[Pentecost Holy Water]
The feast of Pentecost was celebrated
even before the time of Christ. The Jews called it Shavuot, which
commemorated that people’s reception of the Mosaic Law, and sanctified the
current year’s wheat harvest. In Greek, the language of the New Testament, it
is Πεντηκοστή ἡμέρα, Pentēkostē hēmera, the fiftieth day. For Jews it
was the fiftieth day after Passover, for Christians the fiftieth day after
Easter. Sometimes it is referred to as “the feast of weeks,” with seven weeks
of seven days between the two events. For devout Jews, it was one of those
feasts for which every able bodied man in Israel was supposed to make the
pilgrimage to offer sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem.
It is for this reason that Jesus and His
disciples had returned from Galilee to Jerusalem. Ten days earlier, at dinner,
just before ascending into heaven, Jesus “commanded them, that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you
have heard by my mouth….” so they returned to the Upper Room, “persevering with
one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his
The “brethren of Jesus” where His extended family—cousins and such—for Jesus had
no biological brothers or sisters (as proved by Jesus entrusting His mother to
the care of Saint John, for lack of an actual brother.)
Thus the Apostles were all together in
the Upper Room when the events of Pentecost we just read about took place.
“…there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire…. And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost….” It was the Holy Ghost who set their hearts on
fire … it was the Holy Ghost who inspired them to go out on the streets where
minutes ago they would have been afraid to set foot “for fear of the Jews” … it
was the Holy Ghost who made their backwoods Galilean accents to be understood in
the languages of all the men who had traveled from afar to the Feast …it was the
Holy Ghost who touched the hearts of their listeners—about 3,000 of them—and
brought about their mass Baptism.
It was the Holy Ghost who made all of
these people—the Apostles and their coverts radically holy. I say
radically holy, for what they received was not some creation of
God, but rather, they received the uncreated grace that is the substance of God
Himself. They became, as Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Temples of the
Holy Ghost”—“Do you not know that you are temples of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you?”
We must pay close attention to Saint
Paul’s words, for in the very next verse he wrote: “But if any man violate
the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which
There is a real possibility of sin! And without repentance and forgiveness, God
will destroy those who violate the temple of the Holy
But God has given us the Sacraments so
that we may remain holy, continuing to host the Holy Ghost Himself within us.
All of the seven help to preserve us in holiness, but two are of particular
importance: Confession and Holy Communion. The Church considers these two to be
so important that She requires us to receive them at regular intervals—at a
minimum of once each year.
Next Sunday, Trinity Sunday, will be the
last day to fulfill the requirement to receive Holy Communion each year during
the Easter Season.
This is a serious requirement. In years past failure to “make one’s Easter
duty” was almost scandalous; almost as though the errant Catholic had resigned
from the Church. One could not even just Confess the sin and be done with it,
for the requirement remained for the entire year, until the next Easter season.
In the modern Church this is not much of a problem, for many Catholics have been
accustomed to receive Communion at every Mass, with little or no conception of
the need to be in the state of grace. They may question the sinlessness of
Mary, but they never question their own!
And that brings me to the point of this
sermon: There is a similar requirement to make a good Confession at a
minimum of once a year.
We didn’t hear much about this in the old days, for most people went to
Confession on Saturday night or Sunday morning whenever they received
Communion on Sunday—so the requirement was satisfied each year in the Confession
made before the Easter Communion.
One who has not committed a serious sin
all year would be exempt from the annual Confession—but if we are realistic, we
recognize that none of us is quite that holy. Solomon, in the Proverbs, reminds
us that “the just man sins seven times a day.”
And there are 365 days in each year for the just man to sin seven times! At a
minimum, the prudent Catholic man or woman ought to come to Confession even if
they have no specific sin to confess:
Bless me Father, it has been a year since my last Confession. I am
unable to remember committing a specific sin, but I would like to
receive the grace of the Sacrament. In the past I have committed
sins of lust, pride, theft, misuse of God’s name, the Lord’s day (or
whatever), and I am sorry for and ask forgiveness for all sins I may
have committed since my last Confession.
I have printed copies of an Examination
of Conscience for each of us to give some serious thought to what we may have
done wrong. They are on the small table with the Bulletins. Please take
one—there should be enough for everyone.
If you have not made your yearly
Confession, next Sunday would be a good time to do so, before receiving your
Easter Communion. Or let me know in advance if you would like to make your
confession during the coming week before Trinity Sunday. I will do my best to
be here early or stay late after the daily Masses.
If is all very reasonable: if any man
violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. All reasonable people will
seek to avoid self destruction!