Month: June 2011

The kingdom of God is within you!

With the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, the Church was born. Thus, it is appropriate that, on the very next Sunday (this Sunday), we celebrate one of the central mysteries of our faith: the Holy Trinity.

Trinity Sunday, also known as Holy Trinity Sunday, is celebrated a week after Pentecost Sunday in honor of the most fundamental of Christian beliefs—belief in the Holy Trinity. We can never fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we can sum it up in the following formula: God is three Persons in one Nature. The three Persons of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are all equally God, and They cannot be divided.

Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already here

Today is Pentecost Sunday, which marks the end of the Easter season. On this day, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as Christ had promised before He ascended into Heaven ten days before, on Ascension Thursday. The sending of His Spirit was the final element of Christ’s salvific work on earth, and Pentecost Sunday, therefore, is truly the birthday of the Church.

The Acts of the Apostles recounts the story of the original Pentecost as well (Acts 2). Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. On that Sunday, ten days after the Ascension of Our Lord, the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary were gathered in the Upper Room, where they had seen Christ after His Resurrection:

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.” [Acts 2:2-4]

Christ had promised His Apostles that He would sent His Holy Spirit, and, on Pentecost, they were granted the gifts of the Spirit. The Apostles began to preach the Gospel in all of the languages that the Jews who were gathered there spoke, and about 3,000 people were converted and baptized that day.

That is why Pentecost is often called “the birthday of the Church.” On this day, with the descent of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s mission is completed, and the New Covenant is inaugurated. It’s interesting to note that St. Peter, the first pope, was already the leader and spokesman for the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday (see Acts 2:14)

The twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are works that we can perform only with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the performance of such works is an indication that the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian believer.

The twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are
charity (or love)
joy
peace
patience
benignity (or kindness)
goodness
longanimity (or long suffering)
mildness
faith
modesty
continency
chastity