Christians around the world will celebrate Pentecost this Sunday.
This major feast recalls the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ.
Pentecost also marks a birthday – the birth of the Catholic Church and the beginning of its mission to the world.
Like any birthday, we take time to celebrate what God has done up to this point in our life story and we anticipate God’s continued work in our lives. In celebrating the present, we consider both the past and the future.
Over 2,000 years ago God took a small, frightened group of people from a remote corner of the world and, against all odds, transformed them into an assembly of believers that is more than a billion people strong.
Therefore, Pentecost is the day to celebrate the church, the day to reflect on what Jesus has done in and through his church and to look forward to what he will continue to do as he continues to build his church.
On this day, as we think about the Lord building His Church on Earth we also recall Christians around the world – the local parishes and churches – who continue to build his kingdom.
This year the Oblates celebrate the people and parish of Holy Infant Catholic Church in Durham, North Carolina. Led by Rev. Robert Rutledge, OSFS, this community began their mission in the late 1960s, as the spirit of the Second Vatican Council was renewing the Church. In 1970 their first church was built and almost 50 years later, in August of 2019, the parish broke ground for a new church, chapel, and columbarium to meet the needs of the growing parish. The new church is almost complete and will be dedicated in the Fall.
As we celebrate Pentecost and the continued building of the Church, let us do our part to build up God’s kingdom in our own area of the world. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that “when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” Wherever we gather this weekend – in churches, chapels and in our homes – may the Holy Spirit come to us and help us to set the world on fire!
