Pentecost : What do Christians celebrate on this holiday? ?

Catholics celebrate Sunday 5 next june, the feast of Pentecost during which the apostles received the gift of the Holy Spirit, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ. This party, the last celebration of the Easter period which lasts seven weeks is divided into several donations, very important in the life of the Christian.

According to Christian belief, Pentecost celebrates the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and disciples of Jesus and enabled them to speak in different languages ​​in order to share the good news about Jesus. It would be at this precise moment that the faithful understand that they are the church of Jesus and make arrangements to carry his word throughout the world.. They therefore separate to fulfill their mission. This celebration is therefore the crowning and closing of the seven weeks of Paschal time.. This celebration only has meaning and can only be understood in connection with the festival of Easter and the Ascension.. Jesus dies to save men on Good Friday, he resurrects at Easter, ascends to heaven to join his Father at the Ascension and sends his Spirit to earth for Pentecost. It is therefore the crowning achievement of the closing of the seven weeks of Paschal time..

The wind and the fire

The 50th day after Easter, according to the site eglise.catholique.fr while a crowd gathered for Shavuot (Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Law to Moses), the apostles, Marie and some relatives hear a noise “like that of a violent gust of wind” which fills the house ; this is a first sign. The second sign is not long in coming : “a kind of fire which was divided into tongues and rested on each of them”. And here is the third miracle : filled with the Holy Spirit, signified by wind and fire, “they began to speak in other tongues”. The feasting crowd is amazed “because each of them heard them speaking their own language”. So much so that some believe them to be “full of sweet wine” (Ac 2, 1-14) !

So according to the same source, the promise made by Christ to the apostles at the time of his Ascension is fulfilled, about ten days earlier : “you will receive strength, that of the Holy Spirit who will come upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1, 8). Indeed, the apostles, having received the strength of the Spirit, then have the courage to leave the Cenacle room where they were fearfully locked up. They immediately begin to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ, to make his teaching known and to baptize. During Pentecost, the Church is not constituted by human will, but by the power of the Spirit of God. Following this event, the first Christian communities were born which were then organized, developed and propagated.

What are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit?

In a publication from aleteia.org, it is the prophet Isaiah who gives the details of these gifts more than seven centuries before the episode of Pentecost : “A branch will come out of the stump of Jesse, father of David, a shoot will spring from its roots. On him will rest the spirit of the Lord : spirit of wisdom and discernment, spirit of advice and strength, spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord” (Is 11,1-2). Six donations in total, but the last one was subdivided into two : piety and fear of God. Seven gifts to finish, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they “support the moral life of Christians” and are “permanent dispositions which make man docile to follow the impulses of the Holy Spirit”.

The fear of God (This gift makes it possible to effectively fight against pride - favored by "the spirit of independence and false freedom" which leads man to consider himself as his own end and separates him from God. This fear is not a “servile fear”, on the contrary, it becomes “the source of the most delicate feelings”; pity (The gift of piety is closely linked to that of the fear of God. The fault he targets as a priority is selfishness. Pity, which hinders the temptation of coldness and indifference, inspires in the heart of man dispositions towards tenderness and devotion and thus allows him to join God’s project of love) ; the knowledge (The gift of knowledge or science, allows man to have access to the truth, and thus grasp the will of God, and fight evil. By knowledge, the darkness dissipates making it easier to reject error. “We see everything in its true light, which is the day of faith ») ; strength (God knows that man's journey is punctuated with trials, of suffering and difficulties. The gift of strength gives him the resources necessary to surpass them. The Holy Spirit becomes a “principle of energy” to block the path to weakness and renunciation. He finally gives him the strength to bear witness to Christ, even among wolves) ; the board (the gift of advice illuminates the force by allowing man to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and let it guide him. “By the gift of Counsel, the Holy Spirit acts on our intelligence, just as he acts on our will through the gift of Strength”, specifies Don Guéranger), l’Intelligence (The gift of intelligence is of a different nature from the previous five which make it possible to combat the negative inclinations of man : intelligence allows us to bring it to contemplation — this intimate relationship between God and the soul, in silence as in action — which offers a foretaste of heavenly bliss) ; and la Sagesse (The gift of wisdom is “superior” to the gift of intelligence to which it is closely linked. Intelligence leads to seeing the good that God offers, but wisdom allows us to taste it here below. “This precious Wisdom (…) reveals to the soul the flavor of God and of what is of God”, specifies Don Guéranger).

If the Christian, according to the explanations of the holy scriptures, carefully cultivate these seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that he receives during Confirmation then he will be able to pick the twelve fruits, namely charity, joy, the peace, patience, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, leniency, faithfulness, to modesty, continence and chastity ».

Veronique GBEWOLO (Stag)