Letter from the Pastor
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June 8, 2025Today is the 50th Day of Easter; it is Pentecost, the birthday of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church solely founded by Christ.
Today the Holy Spirit descended upon our Blessed Lady and the 12 Apostles. It is a major feast of the Church, second only to Easter. Unlike Christmas and Easter, Pentecost doesn’t have a strong cultural tradition attached to it. It is never celebrated, as it ought to be. There are no parades, no gifts given or received, and no secular equivalent. It is purely a spiritual feast day.
Originally, our Pentecost takes its name from a Jewish feast. The Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, is a four-day feast also known as the “Feast of Weeks,” and takes place 50 days after the Passover.
Passover and Shavuot are intimately connected.
Shavuot commemorates the end of that initial period of Israel’s journey out of Egypt. After the first 50 days in the desert, Moses brought God’s people to Mt. Sinai and gave the people the Ten Commandments. Passover celebrates their freedom from bondage, while Shavuot celebrates the new covenant formed between God and Israel. It is a reminder that they were freed to be God’s holy people, a royal priesthood, and a light to the nations. The Law was written on stone tablets.
Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, a new law was given, this time not written on stone tablets, but now written on the hearts of the Apostles. It also means all the ancient laws are now fulfilled as our Lord told the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount: Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.
This feast is transformed from the memorial of the Law of Moses to the birthday of the Church, when the opportunity to belong to God’s people expanded not only to the Hebrews, but also to all people.
Certainly we have a need for Pentecost. As with other feasts, we celebrate this Solemnity not as a mere memory or reminiscence. We celebrate it to make the events of that first Pentecost present and real. What occurred in the upper room back then, happens here and now again to us.
So many things happened that first Pentecost Sunday but one very important thing that our society needs: unity and love that the Spirit brought to the world through the Church.
We need to speak clearly the truth in love. It is a failure of love to be ambiguous, or to indulge another in their error or sin. We need to use our own words properly. “Say what you mean, mean what you say.” We also need the courage to speak the truth, particularly to our loved ones.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Welcome our New ChoristersChoirs have always been a part of Catholic worship. We are so blessed to have such a professional and wonderful choir and Sacred Music program. Today at 4:00PM during Solemn Evening Prayer and the Extinguishing of the Easter Candle, we will install and welcome our new choristers:
Janel & Jayden Salama.
There is nothing as sweet and inspirational as a child singing the praises of God.
I invite you to come back Sunday afternoon at 4:00PM to sing Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church, to hear beautiful sacred choral music and to experience the extinguishing of the Easter flame. The Easter candle, which burned for the past 50 days at every major liturgy, will now only be lit for baptisms and funerals. It is to remind us of Christ’s resurrection.
After Vespers, you are invited to come to Toner Hall for food and light refreshments to:
Celebrate the Feast Day of Pentecost