Pentecost Sunday
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
Written by Scarlett Rose Ford
“Confirmation is not Catholic graduation,” my youth minister repeated weekly as we prepared for the sacrament. The idea of free pizza and being surrounded by friends is very lucrative for a group of fifteen-year-olds — that’s what attracted me in the first place. We piled in each week, hungry and chatty, but as I heard about the Holy Spirit in depth for the first time from my youth minister, I began to tune in to her and tune out my friends.
“The Holy Spirit is a mystery,” she explained. This bothered me. It’s been 2,000 years? How is it still a mystery?! I was determined to solve it. It took me a while before I understood what a mystery was in the Catholic context, but it captured my interest nonetheless. When trying to learn more about the Holy Spirit, I turned to today’s first reading, Acts 2:1-11:
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim (Acts 2:1-4).
This reading is what we celebrate today: Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. This is the moment when the Trinity was fully revealed, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This moment is huge: It’s the embodiment of the word ‘catholic,’ the revealing of a universal Church. People are speaking in tongues, all understanding one another, overcome with the Holy Spirit. So why do we ask in our psalm today, “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth”?
For my fifteen-year-old self, this was yet another mystery. If the Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost, and we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in confirmation, then why do we need to continually ask for the Holy Spirit? At this age, humility was not on my radar, but that’s what Pentecost is — the beginning of the Church, founded in humility.
As Catholics, we ask God to send down His Spirit as a reminder of this humility. We know that without it, we can do nothing. As today’s second reading says, “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Each time we utter the words, “Come, Holy Spirit,” we admit that truth and the humility it holds.
As we live out the Faith, this truth and humility are essential in a society that roots itself in pride and relative truth. The Spirit present in the readings today is the same one that we receive through confirmation. As St. Paul said, “The Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). As we celebrate Pentecost today, will we live this truth of the Spirit, or will we live in the pride of this world?
Scarlett Rose Ford is a current Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School and a contributing writer for Aleteia’s “The Human Being Fully Alive” series. She spent the spring studying in Rome while working as the Editorial Intern of the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. During the summers, Scarlett is a staff member for Alive in You Catholic Conference and Service Camp, where she shares her love of God with teenagers as a Catholic speaker and sacristan.
Pray with today’s psalm.