8 keys to know what is celebrated in Pentecost

On Sunday, June 5, the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of Pentecost, the day the promise of Christ was fulfilled to the apostles that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to guide them in the evangelizing mission.

To understand more than this date, here we present 8 keys.

1. It comes from the Greek word that means “fifteenth” (Pentecost)

The reason is that Pentecost is the fifteenth day (in Greek, pentecoste hemera) after Easter Sunday (in the Christian calendar).

This name began to be used in the late period of the Old Testament and was inherited by the authors of the New Testament.

2. This holiday has other names

The feast of the weeks, the harvest party or the day of the first fruits, are some.

Today in Jewish circles it is known as Shavu`ot (In Hebrew, “weeks”). In addition, it is known with different names in several languages.

In English -speaking countries it has also been known as Whitsunday (White Sunday), name that is probably derived from the white garments of the newly baptized.

3. Pentecost was another type of party in the Old Testament

It was a festival for harvest and meant that it was coming to an end. Deuteronomy 16 says:

“Then you will tell seven weeks; you will tell them from the day you start cutting the wheat. Then you will celebrate the seven -week party to Yahweh, your God, making voluntary offerings according to what you have harvested by the grace of Yahweh, your God.”

4. In the New Testament it represents the fulfillment of the promise of Christ

It represents the fulfillment of the promise of Christ at the end of the Gospel of St. Luke:

“He told them: ‘All this was written: the conditions of the Messiah and his resurrection of among the dead on the third day. Then the repentance and forgiveness of the sins must be proclaimed in his name, beginning with Jerusalem, and then going to all the nations, inviting them to become that are covered with the force that comes from above ‘”. (Lc. 24: 46-49)

5. The Holy Spirit has different symbols in the New Testament

Facts 2 Remember:

“When Pentecost’s day arrived, they were all gathered in the same place. Suddenly a noise came from the sky, such as that of A Violent Wind Banwho filled the entire house where they were, and some appeared Languages ​​like fire that were distributed and posed on each of them. All were full of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, according to the Spirit he granted them to express themselves. ”

This passage contains two symbols of the Holy Spirit and its activity: wind and fire.

The wind is a basic symbol of the Holy Spirit; The Greek word that means “spirit” (Pneuma) also means “wind” and “breath.” Although the term used for “wind” in this passage is PNOE (a term related to Pneuma), the reader is implied by the connection between the strong wind and the Holy Spirit.

In relation to the symbol of fire the catechism indicates:

While water meant the birth and fertility of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the acts of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Elijah that “arose (…) like fire and whose word burned as torch” (if 48, 1), with its prayer, attracted the fire of heaven on the sacrifice of Mount Carmelo (cf. 1 r 18, 38-39), figure of the fire of the Holy Spirit that transforms what it touches. John the Baptist, “who precedes the Lord with the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk 1:17), announces Christ as “he will baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire” (Lk 3:16), Spirit of which Jesus will say: “I have come to bring fire on earth and how much I would like it to be on!” (Lk 12, 49). In the form of languages ​​”like fire” the Holy Spirit perched on the disciples the morning of Pentecost and filled them (Acts 2, 3-4). The spiritual tradition will retain this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive of the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. San Juan de la Cruz, Live Loving Like). “Do not extinguish the spirit” (1 Ts 5, 19). (CIC 696)

6. There is a connection between the “languages” of fire and speaking in other “languages”

Sen both cases the Greek word for “languages” is the same (glossai), and the reader is intended to understand the connection.

The word “language” is used to mean both a “flame (fire)” and “language.”

The “languages ​​such as fire” that are distributed and stored over the disciples, cause them to begin to speak miraculously in “other languages” (that is, languages)

That is the result of the action of the Holy Spirit, represented by the fire.

7. The Holy Spirit is God

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit is the “third person of the Holy Trinity.” That is, having only one God, there are three different people in him: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This truth has been revealed by Jesus in his gospel.

The Holy Spirit cooperates with the Father and the Son from the beginning of history to its consummation, but it is in recent times, inaugurated with the incarnation, when the spirit is revealed and given to us, when it is recognized and welcomed as a person. The Lord Jesus presents it to us and refers to him not as an impersonal power, but as a different person, with his own work and a personal character.

8. Pentecost means participating in the divine life of Christ and being witnesses

The solemnity of Pentecost is one of the most important in the church calendar and contains a rich depth of meaning. In this way Benedict XVI summarized it May 27, 2012:

“This solemnity reminds us and relive the effusion of the Holy Spirit about the apostles and the other disciples, gathered in prayer with the Virgin Mary in the Cenacle (cf. Act His aridity, opens hearts to hope, stimulates and favors in us inner maturation in the relationship with God and neighbor. ”

This article was originally published in National Catholic Register On May 31, 2020 and has been updated for reprogramming.