Category: Solemnities

“When Days of Pentecost Were Fulfilled”

Reflections on Pentecost

as the Culmination of the Easter Season of Fifty Days

Year C

Fr. Kurt Belsole, O.S.B.

May 15, 2016

“When the days of Pentecost were fulfilled,

 they were all together in one place. Alleluia.”

“Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes,

erant omnes pariter in eodem loco, alleluia.”

This great antiphon for the first psalm of Evening Prayer I of Pentecost provides us with the occasion to reflect on what it means for the days of Pentecost to be fulfilled.  A simple glance back at the mysteries we have celebrated and the gospel passages that the Church has proclaimed to us in the sacred liturgy during this Easter Season can give us a taste of what it means for the “days of Pentecost to be fulfilled.”

Easter Sunday

• For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Second Sunday of Easter

• On the evening of that first day of the week, . . . Jesus came and stood in their midst and said: “Peace be with you.” (It is noteworthy that not only the Resurrection, but also the appearances of the resurrected Lord tend to take place on Sunday—except in the Appendix to the Gospel of John.  The Resurrection happened with no one seeing it—and, to be honest, the simple fact of the Resurrection had no effect in their lives.  They may well have slept through it!  It was only when the resurrected Christ appeared to them—with all that that means—that they discovered the meaning and power of the Resurrection. Again, he tends to appear on Sunday.)
• He showed them his hands and his side (The resurrected Christ is raised with his wounds—the wounds themselves are part of his glory—they themselves show his love.)
• The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
• He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit . . . whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them.”
• A week later (again on Sunday), Jesus came and stood in their midst
• Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God.”
• These are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Third Sunday of Easter

• Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberius.
• The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
• “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
• “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
• “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
• “Feed my sheep.”
• “When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
• He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.  And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Fourth Sunday of Easter

• “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
• “I give them eternal life.”
• “They shall never perish.”
• “No one can take them out of my hand.”

Fifth Sunday of Easter

• “Now is the Son of Man glorified.”
• “God is glorified in him.”
• “Love one another.”
• “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Sixth Sunday of Easter

• “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
• “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
• “Peace I leave with you.”
• “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
• “I will come back to you.”

Ascension

• “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
• He raised his hands and blessed them.
• They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

• “Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one.”
• “Father, they are your gift to me.”
• “I wish that they may see my glory.”
• “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

And this all crescendos to the great gospel of the Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost:

• Jesus stood up and cried out saying: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  As is said in Scripture, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’”  He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.

So these are just some of the marvelous works of God that we have heard proclaimed and that we have celebrated during the fifty days of the Easter season while the days of Pentecost were being fulfilled: resurrection, appearance, wounds, glory, eternal life, indwelling, the Advocate, peace, praise of God, loving one another, and rivers of living water flowing from within.

[P.S.: I realize that the translation in the breviary translates the antiphon as “On the day of Pentecost they had all gathered together in one place, alleluia.”  But the translation of the same text in the first reading of Mass for Pentecost Sunday is much more faithful: “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together” (Acts 2:1).]

“When the Days of Pentecost Were Fulfilled”

Reflections on the Solemnity of Pentecost

as the Culmination of the Easter Season of Fifty Days

Year A

Fr. Kurt Belsole, O.S.B.

June 5, 2014

“When the days of Pentecost were fulfilled,

 they were all together in one place. Alleluia.”

“Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes,

erant omnes pariter in eodem loco, alleluia.”

This great antiphon for the first psalm of Evening Prayer I of Pentecost provides us with the occasion to reflect on what it means for the days of Pentecost to be fulfilled.  A simple glance back at the mysteries we have celebrated and the gospel passages that the Church has proclaimed to us in the sacred liturgy during this Easter Season can give us a taste of what it means for the “days of Pentecost to be fulfilled.”

Easter Sunday

• For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Second Sunday of Easter

• On the evening of that first day of the week, . . . Jesus came and stood in their midst and said: “Peace be with you.” (It is noteworthy that not only the Resurrection, but also the appearances of the resurrected Lord tend to take place on Sunday—except in the Appendix to the Gospel of John.  The Resurrection happened with no one seeing it—and, to be honest, the simple fact of the Resurrection had no effect on the lives of the disciples.  They may well have slept through it!  It was only when the resurrected Christ appeared to them—with all that that means—that they discovered the meaning and power of the resurrection. Again, he tends to appear on Sunday.)
• He showed them his hands and his side (The resurrected Christ is raised with his wounds—the wounds themselves are part of his glory—they themselves show his love.)
• The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
• He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit . . . whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them.”
• A week later (again on Sunday), Jesus came and stood in their midst
• Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God.”
• These are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Third Sunday of Easter

• Two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus.
• Jesus himself drew near and walked with them.
• “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.”
• “Some women of our group have astounded us . . . they did not find the body . . . they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive.”
• “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
• He interpreted what referred to him in all the scriptures.
• He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.
• With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
• “Were our hearts not burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
• “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
• He was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

• “The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”
• “He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him.”
• “They recognize his voice.”
• “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”
• “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Fifth Sunday of Easter

• “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
• “Have faith in God; have faith also in me.”
• “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”
• “I will come back again and take you to myself.”
• “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
• “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Sixth Sunday of Easter

• “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
• “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”
• “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
• “Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Ascension

• Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
• “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
• Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Seventh Sunday of Easter

• “Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you.”
• “That your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.”
• “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
• “They belonged to you, and you gave them to me.”
• “I pray for them.”
• “I have been glorified in them.”

And this all crescendos to the great gospel of the Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost:

• Jesus stood up and exclaimed: “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. As Scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.’” He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.

So these are just some of the marvelous works of God that we have heard proclaimed and that we have celebrated during the fifty days of the Easter season while the days of Pentecost were being fulfilled: resurrection, Jesus in our midst, peace, Jesus drawing near, he explained the scriptures, their eyes were opened, glory, the Advocate, having life more abundantly, Christ being with us all days, and rivers of living water flowing from within.

May you always be overcome with paschal joy!

Blessed Pentecost.

[P.S.: I realize that the translation in the breviary translates the antiphon as “On the day of Pentecost they had all gathered together in one place, alleluia.”  But the translation of the same text in the first reading of Mass for Pentecost Sunday is much more faithful: “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together” (Acts 2:1).]

“When the Time for Pentecost Was Fulfilled”

Reflections on Pentecost as the Culmination of the Easter Season of Fifty Days

Year B

Fr. Kurt Belsole, O.S.B.

May 22, 2015

Revised: May 19, 2018

“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,

 they were all together in one place. Alleluia.”

“Dum complerentur dies Pentecostes,

erant omnes pariter in eodem loco, alleluia.”

This great antiphon for the first psalm of Evening Prayer I of Pentecost provides us with the occasion to reflect on what it means for the time for Pentecost to be fulfilled.  A simple glance back at Christ bringing the paschal mystery to fulfillment and looking again at just some of the gospels that the Church has proclaimed to us in the sacred liturgy during the Easter Season this year can give us a taste of what it means for the time for Pentecost to be fulfilled.

Easter Sunday

• “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?  He has been raised; he is not here.”

Second Sunday of Easter

• Jesus came and stood in their midst and said: “Peace be with you.”
• He showed them his hands and his side.
• The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
• He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit . . . whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them.”
• Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God.”

Third Sunday of Easter

• He stood in their midst . . . they were incredulous with joy.
• “Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”
• He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
• “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”

Fourth Sunday of Easter

• “I am the good shepherd.  A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”
• “I know mine and mine know me.”
• “I have power to lay it down and power to take it up again.”

Fifth Sunday of Easter

• “I am the vine.  You are the branches.  Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”
• “In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Sixth Sunday of Easter

• “As the Father loves me, so also do I love you.  Remain in my love.”
• “This is my commandment; love one another as I have loved you.”
• “There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
• “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
• “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go forth and bear fruit that will last.”
• “This I command you: love one another.”

Ascension

• “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”
• The Lord Jesus . . . was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.
• They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word through accompanying signs.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

• “Heavenly Father . . . may they be one just as we are one.”
•  “I say this in the world that they may share my joy completely.”
• “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.”
• “Consecrate them in truth.”
• “As you sent me into the world, so I send them into the world.”
• “I consecrate myself for them.”

And this all crescendos to the great gospel of the Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost:

• Jesus stood up and cried out saying: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  As is said in Scripture, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.

So these are just some of the magnalia Dei, the marvelous works of God, that we have heard proclaimed and that we have celebrated during the fifty days of the Easter season—while the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled—“he has been raised”, peace, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord, sins are forgiven, they were incredulous with joy, remain in my love, I chose you, love one another, rivers of living water will flow from within him.

Blessed Pentecost!

[P.S.: I realize that the translation in the breviary translates the antiphon as “On the day of Pentecost they had all gathered together in one place, alleluia.”  But the translation of the same text in the first reading of Mass for Pentecost Sunday is much more faithful: “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together” (Acts 2:1).]

The Pontifical North American College

Solemnity of Pentecost

“We hear them speaking of the mighty acts of God.”

June 9, 2019

We just heard in the reading from The Acts of the Apostles, at the very end of the reading—devout Jews from every nation under heaven saying: We hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

I have a confession to make:—I absolutely love Pentecost.

For over 40 years now, I have included the Sequence for Pentecost as part of my thanksgiving every day after Mass.

I love Pentecost because I love and I am indescribably grateful for the mighty acts of God. I give thanks for them with a gratitude that is beyond words, and I can never even begin to fathom the depths of them.

The mighty acts of God—or as they are known in theology, the magnalia Dei—the marvelous works of God continue to astound all who bear the name of Christian.

Sometimes Pentecost is quite unfairly depicted as the feast of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity—as if we needed a feast for the Father, a feast for the Son, and a feast of the Holy Spirit—it is hardly that.

Just as we do not have a feast of God the Father, nor could we point to a specific feast that we would call the feast of the Son, neither do we have a feast of the Holy Spirit. If you are already a divine person, you do not worry a whole lot about having your own feast.  What we celebrate today is not the Holy Spirit, but the sending of the Spirit in light of the marvelous works of God in the context of the whole of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.

What is not important is that people heard the disciples speaking different languages—what is important is that the confusion at the tower of Babel and the dispersion of peoples that it caused—is overcome and that peoples of every land and every tongue hear of the marvelous works of God.

When the sacred liturgy was renewed after the Second Vatican Council, the octave of Pentecost was suppressed—because Pentecost is the conclusion of something—the celebration of the mysteries of the mission of the Son—and nothing less than the capstone of the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.

What does it mean for the days of Pentecost to be fulfilled—dum complerentur dies Pentecostes?

Pentecost is the fulfillment of the whole of the Paschal Mystery of Christ—moving through the Annunciation to the Sending of the Spirit—or as we will pray in a few minutes in the Preface of Pentecost: For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son.

For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son:

The marvelous works of God mean nothing less than the re-creation of the whole world—that re-creation—for our salvation—which was begun at the Annunciation—and carried through to the Ascension and the sending of the Spirit.

To recall just some of the magnalia Dei of divine redemption in the Paschal Mystery that we celebrate as a Church today, we commemorate:

• The marvelous works of God at the Annunciation—when for the sake of our salvation the Divine Word took upon himself our human nature, so in need of redemption—we read:
  • The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin whose name was Mary—hail full of grace—you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.

• And the marvelous works of God at Christmas—exactly nine months later when the Son of God who is also the Son of Mary is born for us—we read:
  • She gave birth to her firstborn son—and the angel appeared to the shepherds saying: “Do not be afraid; I proclaim to you good news of great joy—a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.

• And the marvelous works of God at the Epiphany as the Lord is revealed as the light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel—we read:
  • You shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow—and the Magi were overjoyed at seeing the star—and they prostrated themselves, did him homage, opened their treasures, and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

• And the marvelous works of God at the Baptism of the Lord at the beginning of his public ministry—we read:
  • After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him—as a voice sounded from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

• And the marvelous works of God on Palm Sunday—we read:
  • They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

• And the marvelous works of God on Holy Thursday when Christ washed the apostles’ feet and said:
  • “Do you realize what I have done for you—if I, therefore, the master and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.”

• And the marvelous works of God on Good Friday—we read:
  • Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.

• And the marvelous works of God on Holy Saturday, as we hear in the Office of Readings—Christ saying to Adam as he and his descendants are held in the prison of the underworld:
  • Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven—I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God—the bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready—the kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

• And the marvelous works of God on Easter Sunday—we read:
  • They found the stone rolled away from the tomb—they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus—they sought the living one among the dead.

• And the marvelous works of God throughout the Easter Season when:
  • The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
  • And our hearts burned within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us.
  • And when Jesus tells Mary Magdalen not to cling to him—because he has to be free to go to the Father and send the Spirit upon us.
  • And when He says that if we loved him, we would rejoice to have him go to the Father.
  • And where he tells the apostles that it is better for them if he goes, because if he does not go, the Advocate will not come to them.

• And the marvelous works of God at the Ascension—when we read:
  • Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Today, on the feast of Pentecost, we meet again the marvelous works of God when, in the final act of the Paschal Mystery, the Spirit—the Consoler and the Advocate is sent from the Father.

In baptism we have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba—Father—and God dwells in us as truly as he dwells in the tabernacle—Head and Members are one in the Mystical Body—Christ is the vine and we are united to him as the branches—and we are pruned—that we might bear fruit in plenty. We have become sharers in the divine nature, and, by grace, divine blood courses through our very bodies.

God never rations the gift of the Spirit—and for us—because of the great Paschal Mystery—life is not transformed but transfigured. The Father speaks, and we hear: “You are my beloved son/you are my beloved daughter,” and today new wine is poured into new wineskins—because as St. John says: We have come to know and to believe in the love that God has for us. God is love.

And as one of the Entrance Antiphons for today says: The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia. And as we will sing again and again today in the Communion Antiphon: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke of the marvels of God, alleluia.

We have heard and we celebrate the mighty acts of God—they animate every fiber of our being—and like the devout Jews gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost, we can only be astounded and amazed—and grateful beyond words—at the mighty acts of God—all that God in his mercy has done for us.

Glory be to him now and forever. Amen.

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday concludes the Easter Season, and on that day, the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. It is the celebration of the Father’s sending of the Holy Spirit, and not of the Holy Spirit himself. Just as the Church does not have a feast of God the Father or God the Son, neither does she have a feast of God the Holy Spirit. The feast of Pentecost needs to be seen in light of the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

So, on Pentecost, we hear in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles about what happened on Pentecost day itself and how the Spirit descended upon the disciples and how they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Another reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians speaks of there being different gifts, but the same Spirit and of how all were baptized into one body and how all were given to drink of one Spirit. Another reading speaks of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then, the gospel, which in all three cycles is from the gospel of John, speaks of various dimensions of the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, the preface for the Mass of Pentecost speaks of how it is right to give thanks to God for bringing the Paschal mystery to completion, for bestowing the Holy Spirit, and for uniting his adopted children with the Only Begotten Son.

Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
www.liftupyourhearts.church