Sunday is Pentecost. Pentecost means fifty days after Easter. On this day, we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God and the third person of the Holy Trinity.
We experience God in three distinct relationships at once. We experience God as Father and Creator. We experience God as Word, Savior, and Redeemer, whom we call Jesus. And we experience God as Sanctifier and Sustainer, whom we call the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit who opens us to belief. It is the Spirit who converts religion into sincere and convicted faith. It is the Spirit who gives us zeal for the faith, and it is the Spirit who reminds us of all Jesus said and taught. It is the Spirit who moves us to recognize Jesus as Lord. The Holy Spirit sets our hearts on fire. That is why the color of the day is red, symbolizing the fire that came upon the Apostles.
The Work of the Spirit
It is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us when we receive the sacraments. At Mass, it is the Spirit, through the sacrament of Holy Orders in the priest, who makes Jesus present in the Eucharist. It is the Spirit who moves us to ask for forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Baptism who allows us to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, as Jesus foretold.
It is the Spirit who inspires us to understand and grow spiritually through our contemplation of the Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us the gifts of God: Wisdom, Understanding, Good Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, and Piety. These gifts produce fruits in us that show the Spirit is present. These fruits of the Spirit are love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, chastity, patience, generosity, and self-control. It is the Spirit who helps us live out the Gospel.
Perhaps this is easier understood if we say: the Father speaks the Word, and the Spirit is the Breath needed to speak the Word, who is Jesus.
A Pentecost Reflection
What gift of the Holy Spirit do you see yourself as needing? What fruits of the Holy Spirit have you recognized in others and in yourself? The gifts of the Spirit are given to be shared. How do we share the gifts of the Spirit given to us in all the sacraments?
Rev. Msgr. Guy A. Massie
Pentecost Sunday
May 24, 2026
