Pentecost Sunday (Year C) - 8 June 2025
8th June 2025
“He pours light into our minds, arouses our desire and gives us strength. As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.” - St Peter Damian
Happy Birthday to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church!
Pentecost ranks among the great feasts of Christianity. Known as “The Birthday of the Church”, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Our Lady, the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ.
A plenary (or full) indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who devoutly recite the hymn Veni, Creator (Come Creator Spirit) publicly on the Solemnity of Pentecost. We will publicly recite this prayer before the Recessional Hymn at Mass on Sunday morning.
To fulfil the conditions to gain the plenary indulgence, the faithful must: Receive Holy Communion on the same day; Pray for the holy intentions of the Pope; Go to Sacramental Confession on the same day or within 21 days; Have a detachment from sin.
An excerpt from the Homily of Pope St John Paul II on Pentecost Sunday, 31 May 1998:
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life.”
With the words of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Church proclaims her faith in the Paraclete; a faith that is born of the apostolic experience of Pentecost. The passage from the Acts of the Apostles, which today’s liturgy has offered for our meditation, recalls in fact the marvels worked on the day of Pentecost, when with great astonishment the Apostles saw Jesus’ words come true. As was mentioned in the passage from St John’s Gospel proclaimed a few moments ago, on the eve of His Passion He had assured them: “I will pray the Father and He will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever” (Jn 14:16). This “Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).
And the Holy Spirit, coming down upon them with extraordinary power, enabled them to proclaim the teaching of Christ Jesus to the whole world. Their courage was so great, their determination so sure, that they were prepared to do anything, even to give up their life. The gift of the Spirit had released their deepest energies, concentrating them on the mission entrusted to them by the Redeemer. And it will be the Counsellor, the Parakletos, who will guide them in preaching the Gospel to all. The Spirit will teach them the whole truth, drawing it from the wealth of Christ’s word, so that, in turn, they may communicate it to people in Jerusalem and the rest of the world.
How can we not give thanks to God for the wonders the Spirit has never ceased to accomplish in these two millenniums of Christian life? Indeed, the event of grace at Pentecost has continued to bear its marvellous fruits, everywhere instilling apostolic zeal, a desire for contemplation, the commitment to live and serve God and our brothers and sisters with complete dedication. Today too, the Spirit sustains great and small acts of forgiveness and prophecy in the Church and gives life to ever new charisms and gifts, which attest to His ceaseless action in human hearts.
St Paul writes in the Letter to the Romans, proclaimed a few moments ago: “All who are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God” (Rm 8:14). These words suggest a further way of understanding the wonderful action of the Spirit in our life as believers. They open the way for us to reach the human heart: the Holy Spirit, Whom the Church calls upon to give “light to the senses”, visits man inwardly and directly touches the depths of his being.
The Apostle continues: “But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you.... For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (cf. Rom 8:9, 14). Contemplating then the mysterious action of the Paraclete, he adds with deep feeling: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery ... but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry ‘Abba, Father!’, it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rm 8:15-16). Here we are at the centre of the mystery! It is in the meeting between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit that we find the very heart of what the Apostles experienced at Pentecost. This extraordinary experience is present in the Church born of that event and accompanies her down the centuries.
Under the Holy Spirit’s action, man fully discovers that his spiritual nature is not veiled by corporeity but, on the contrary, it is his spirit which gives true meaning to his body. Indeed, by living according to the Spirit, he fully manifests the gift of his adoption as a son of God.
It is in this context that we find the fundamental question of the relationship between life and death, which Paul touches on when he says: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom 8:13). It is exactly so: docility to the Spirit gives man continuous opportunities for life.
Veni, Sancte Spiritus! So we pray with Mary, sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, a most precious dwelling-place of Christ among us, so that she may help us to be living temples of the Spirit and tireless witnesses of the Gospel.
Veni, Creator (Come Creator Spirit)
O Holy Spirit, by Whose breath life rises vibrant out of death; Come to create, renew, inspire; Come kindle in our hearts Your fire.
You are the seeker’s sure resource, of burning love the living source, Protector in the midst of strife, the Giver and the Lord of life.
In You God’s energy is shown, to us Your varied gifts made known. Teach us to speak, teach us to hear; Yours is the tongue and Yours the ear.
Flood our dull senses with Your light; In mutual love our hearts unite. Your power the whole creation fills; Confirm our weak, uncertain wills.
From inner strife grant us release; Turn nations to the ways of peace. To fuller life Your people bring that as one body we may sing:
Praise to the Father, Christ, His Word, and to the Spirit: God the Lord, to Whom all honour, glory be both now and for eternity. Amen. 💖🙏💐