PENTECOST SUNDAY - MASS DURING THE DAY, MAY 19, 2024
- Maria Knox
- May 18, 2024
- 3 min read
GOSPEL:
Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
REFLECTION:
"When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth."
Just this past May 9th we celebrated the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. And today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday.
We all know it is the celebration of the Holy Spirit descending on Mary and the disciples. After they were filled with the Holy Spirit they were not afraid as before, and started preaching all over the world.
So the question is, what are all the symbols and prayers said during Mass today? Where do they come from?
I found this explanation by Dr. Clint Brand that was very enlightening:
Awaiting the Paraclete, looking forward to Pentecost Before He went up to the Father, Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go; for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you” (John 16:7). After Christ’s Ascension, His Blessed Mother, the apostles, and disciples dedicated themselves to prayer in the Cenacle for nine days until the Holy Ghost descended upon them in tongues of fire. As promised, the Paraclete was poured out upon the Church gathered in prayer around Mary. And so the Holy Spirit yet abides with us as the very soul of the mystical Body of Christ that is the Church, vitalizing and indwelling all its members and operations. Next week on Whitsunday, we will celebrate the birthday of the Church, the great solemnity of Pentecost, seven weeks after the Resurrection, on the fiftieth day, known in the Jewish tradition as the “jubilee octave” (i.e., 7 × 7 + 1). With Easter, the liturgical observance of the coming of the Holy Ghost is the most ancient of all Christian holy days. This festival is also called Whitsunday, especially in England and northern Europe, on account of the white robes worn by the newly baptized on this day set aside, like the Easter Vigil, for christenings. Though the week following Pentecost is called Whitsuntide, this festival does not inaugurate a new season; rather, it concludes Paschal time and marks off the first half of the liturgical year. Second in dignity only to Easter, Pentecost is one of the few solemnities with special propers appointed for its vigil, and the principal Mass is to be celebrated with the utmost reverence. On this day, for one last time at the close of Eastertide, Solemn Mass begins with the Vidi aquam and the rite of sprinkling holy water. At the chanting of the Alleluia verse, Emitte Spiritum, it is traditional to genuflect at the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and then just before the Gospel we all sing the medieval sequence hymn Veni Sancte Spiritus, also known as "The Golden Sequence: "Come, thou Holy Spirit, come." (The 1940 Hymnal gives us this great hymn in the memorable translation by Edward Caswall, the Anglican who converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1847.) At the end of Mass on Pentecost, concluding the Easter season, the Paschal Candle is formally extinguished before being taken to the baptistery where it remains until the next liturgical year begins with Advent. Dr. Clint *
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