Good evening,

This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday in the Church. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, but it is more than that as well. On this feast day, we remember when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the advocate, down to the Apostles to give them the gifts they needed to spread the Gospel. In the book of Acts of the Apostles, we read of the incredible feats of faith that the Apostles accomplished as they established the Church throughout the Roman empire and beyond. How their faith was such that even in the face of death, they did not waver. As the early Christian writer, Tertullian, wrote “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” 

Here is something that I know I often forget. The same Holy Spirit that came to the Apostles on Pentecost, that empowered them to give their lives to the mission of the Gospel, and that compelled them to establish the Church in the face of incredible adversity… that’s the same Spirit that lives in me. The same Spirit that lives in all of us through the sacrament of Baptism, and strengthened in Confirmation. We each have within ourselves incredible strength to do what is needed. We are blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. We have the same potential to go out and make a difference in the world, and the same vocation to share the Gospel.

As we celebrate the feast of Pentecost this weekend, let us remember that God has sent us his help and love by the Holy Spirit. Let us go out and spread the good news!

~Jon