Sunday's Readings: Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104:1,24,29-31,34 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 John 20:19-23

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• A New Wind (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• The Gifts and Charisms of The Holy Spirit from The Crossroads Initiative

The Pauline Year Web site in conjunction with the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls is dedicated to providing information about the special Pauline Year (June 28, 2008 through June 29, 2009) which Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed last year. As this special year begins to draw to a close, this Web site is worth visiting to learn more about the basilica and the Apostle to the Gentiles who helped spread the Gospel to the far reaches of the Roman Empire within just a few years after the Lord's Ascension into Heaven.

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Pentecost

Pentecost celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the book of Acts, ushering in the beginning of the Church. 50 Days after Jesus' resurrection (and 10 days after Jesus' Ascension), the apostles were gathered together, probably confused and contemplating their future mission and purpose. On the day of Pentecost, a flame rested upon the shoulders of the apostles and they began to speak in tongues (languages), by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus Pentecost is a time for many Catholics and other Christians to celebrate two important realities: the Holy Spirit and the Church. Pentecost has long been a very important feast in The Catholic and Orthodox Churches because it celebrates the official beginning of the Church. It is one of the twelve Great Feasts of the Eastern Church, second only in importance to Pascha (Easter). Pentecost always falls on a Sunday, fifty days after Easter Sunday (inclusive of Easter Sunday), and occurs during mid-to-late Spring in the Northern hemisphere, and mid-to-late autumn in the Southern hemisphere.

Pentecost is also the Greek name for Jewish Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), falling on the 50th day of Passover. It was during the Feast of Weeks that the first fruits of the grain harvest were presented (see Deuteronomy 16:9). New Testament references to Pentecost likely refer to the Jewish feast and not the Christian feast, which gradually developed during and after the Apostolic period.

In the English speaking countries, Pentecost is also known as Whitsunday. The origin of this name is unclear, but may derive from the Old English word for "White Sunday," referring to the practice of baptizing converts clothed in white robes on the Sunday of Pentecost. In the English tradition, new converts were baptized on Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints Day, primarily for pragmatic purposes: people went to church these days. Alternatively, the name Whitsunday may have originally meant "Wisdom Sunday," since the Holy Spirit is traditionally viewed as the Wisdom of God, who bestows wisdom upon Christians at baptism. In other parts of the world, Pentecost has other names, including "Green Sunday" in the Ukraine and "Green Holiday" in Poland. These names are derived from Pentecost customs that involve taking green plants into homes and churches as symbols of new life. These customs also may hearken back to the harvest festival themes of the Jewish Pentecost.

As with the term Pascha, in Pentecost Christians borrowed a Jewish term and applied it to their own festivals. Tertullian (3rd century) knew of Christian Pentecost, and the Apostolic Constitutions (4th century) speak of the Pentecost feast lasting a week. In the Western Church the vigil of Pentecost became second only to the Easter Vigil in importance. Eventually in the West, Pentecost became a Sunday set aside for baptisms. Pentecost was not kept with an octave (an 8 day celebration) until a later date, although now that practice has been largely abandoned. For the most part, Pentecost is now in Western churches celebrated for only a Sunday. Traditionally, the Sundays between Pentecost and Advent have been designated "Sundays After Pentecost." However, this has been dropped in the West, although it continues in the East. The date of Pentecost is determined based on the date of Easter, and since Western churches calculate Easter differently than Orthodox Christians, usually Western and Eastern Christians celebrate Pentecost on different dates. Using the Western Easter calculation, the earliest possible date for Pentecost is May 10, and the latest possible date is June 13.

From ChurchYear.net

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This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.

"He Ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father"

Forty days after His resurrection, our Lord ascended into Heaven in the presence of His disciples. This week's excerpt from the Catechism helps us better understand the Lord's Ascension and what it tells us about Jesus.

659   "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God." Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. Jesus' final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God's right hand. Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to one untimely born", in a last apparition that established him as an apostle.

660   The veiled character of the glory of the Risen One during this time is intimated in his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: "I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, a transition marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension.

661   This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who "came from the Father" can return to the Father: Christ Jesus. "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man." Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the "Father's house", to God's life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.

662   "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw near to God through him". As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.

663   Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified."

664   Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."546 After this event the apostles became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end".

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.

Sunday's Readings: Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 or 4:1-13 Mark 16:15-20

Here are a couple of commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Jesus Ascends the Throne from The Crossroads Initiative

Pentecost Novena
Novena Dates: May 22 - 30
Solemnity Day May 31

O Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Apostles and filled them with power and wisdom, watch over me and guide me in all my thoughts and acts. Never let me forget to call on you whenever I need help. Amen.

O Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth, come into our hearts, shed the brightness of Your light on all nations, that they may be one in faith and pleasing to You.

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (Five times)

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This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.

Sunday's Readings: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 Psalm 98:1-4 1 John 4:7-10 John 15:9-17

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• On the Vine (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Love Unlimited from The Crossroads Initiative

Christendom College is a Catholic College which is just up the road from Charlottesville in Front Royal, Virginia. The school, which was founded over 30 years ago with the motto, "To restore all things in Christ", is a coeducational, liberal arts college committed to faithfulness to the Magisterium of our Church.

During the summer, the college offers several summer programs for high school students and adults.

First, for rising high school seniors, the college offers three sessions (two one week session and one two week session) for the students to experience Christendom. The program includes a mix of academics, devotion, recreation, and social activities in order to give students a taste of life at Christendom College. More information, including a video, can be found on the College's Web site.

Second, the College offers a Latin Immersion Program for high school students. The program gives students the opportunity to quickly progress in their ability to speak and read Latin even without any prior knowledge of Latin. There are two one-week sessions available in July. More information is available on the Christendom Web site.

Finally, for adults, Christendom College offers the 20th Annual Summer Institute. During the Institute, attendees have the opportunity to hear major speakers discuss our Faith and provide practical applications of the Church's teaching to our daily lives. This year's Summer Institute will be held on June 26-27 (Friday evening and all day Saturday).

The Summer Institute has been scheduled to coincide with the conclusion of the Year of St. Paul (June 28, 2008 - June 29, 2009) which Pope Benedict XVI declared last year to honor the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul. Accordingly, the focus of the Summer Institute will be St. Paul and the topic is, "St. Paul: His Spiritual and Scriptural Contributions to the Church." For more information, see the College's Web site.

Sunday's Readings: Acts 9:26-31 Psalm 22:26-28, 30-32 1 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• On the Vine (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Bearing Much Fruit from The Crossroads Initiative

Sunday's Readings: Acts 4:8-12 Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 29 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• The Shepherd's Voice (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• The Way, The Truth, and The Life - Jesus Only from The Crossroads Initiative

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. - St. Thérèrse of Liseaux

The Holy Father's prayer intentions for May are:

General:   That the laity and the Christian communities may be responsible promoters of priestly and religious vocations.

Mission:   That the recently founded Catholic Churches, grateful to the Lord for the gift of faith, may be ready to share in the universal mission of the Church, offering their availability to preach the Gospel throughout the world.

Pro-Life Prayer Intention

That God may strengthen those who suffer ridicule and
rejection for their pro-life convictions.