Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday signals the end of the Easter Season. The Easter candle is lit at all masses on this Sunday and is then placed near the Baptismal font. This day commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks. Pentecost means ”fiftieth”, the feast so named as it is 50 days after Easter Sunday.

This week’s Gospel is from John 20:19-23

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (NRSVU)

Thomas the doubter is the patron saint of so many of us. When it comes to the spiritual, we are so often sceptical. Jesus respected Thomas's doubts and guided his fingers to show that his wounds were real. Jesus speaks of peace but shows his hand and his feet: he reminds us that there is a cost to being a presence of peace in the world.

Term 2 Liturgies and Celebrations: