Pentecost

Pentecost, which takes place each year on the 50th day  after Easter, Resurrection Sunday. Pentecost commemorates the gift of  the Holy Spirit, first to the apostles and then to all who follow Jesus  Christ. Hence, Pentecost is often seen as the “birthday of the Church,” a  time when God’s Spirit came upon Jesus’ disciples, to enable them to  serve Christ with new vision and mission, taking them all throughout the  then-known world – all the way west to Mauritania in West Africa, to  India and China in the East.

I love the way Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest and author, describes the contemporary importance of Pentecost for us;

“Without  Pentecost, the Christ-event – the life, death, and resurrection of  Jesus – remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think  about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so  that we can become living Christs here and now.”