Pentecost El Greco [Web Gallery of Art] All [the apostles] with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers . . . When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. (Acts 1:14; 2:1). Pentecost Sunday, at the Vigil Mass  (Saturday evening), Years ABC NB: The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings. Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though some priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to this Vigil Mass as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before Pentecost Sunday and may be celebrated in an extended form. It also fulfils the Sunday obligation.  Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA Gospel John 7:37-39 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Mass During the Day, Year B Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel John 15:26-27, 16:12-15 (English Standard Version, Anglicised) Jesus said to his disciples:  “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” OR Gospel John 20:19-23 (English Standard Version, Anglicised) On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”   Léachtaí i nGaeilge This week I'm using what I used three years ago. I'm focusing on the central role of our Blessed Mother in God's plan for our salvation. I cannot imagine a painting of the Annunciation, a painting of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, a painting of the Birth of Jesus without Mary. I cannot imagine a painting with people at the foot of the Cross without Mary being among them. Michelangelo's Pietá without Mary would be ludicrous. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Mary was with the Apostles from Ascension Thursday as they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Any of the great paintings of Pentecost show Mary with the Apostles. El Greco catches all of this in the paintings I have used here. I've used his painting of Pentecost above and below. The Annunciation El Greco, painted 1596-1600, Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art] And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God . . .  And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:35, 38). Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, wrote the following in 1937 in his foreward to Mary, Mother of Divine Grace by Fr Joseph Le Rohellec CSSp, translated by Fr Stephen Rigby and Fr Denis Fahey CSSp. God has set [Mary] in the beginning of our ways. From the first, the idea of Her was present to His mind along with that of the Redeemer. He only looked at poor fallen humanity through Her. When, in the fulness of the ages, She was born and came to maturity, He sent to Her His high angel, and to Her proposed the Divine plan of Redemption for which the world had waited for forty dismal centuries. That plan invited Her participation. Nay, more, He was pleased to make it necessary, so that if Her consent is not forthcoming, that plan will not be put into effect, and the dream of those forty centuries will not pass into actuality, will not come true, will not even continue as a dream. For there is to be no fruition. In Mary, all humanity withers because in Her it has not known the time of its visitation. . . . Mary was formed by the Holy Trinity for the work She had to do. 'She was the fruit of an eternal deliberation,' says St Augustine. Mary is central to God's plan for our salvation. When she said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. The Visitation El Greco [Web Gallery of Art] When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:41-43). Here is part of his Regina Caeli address on Pentecost Sunday 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. Dear friends, this year the Solemnity of Pentecost occurs on the last day of the month of May on which the beautiful Marian feast of the Visitation is normally celebrated. This fact invites us to let ourselves be inspired and, as it were, instructed by the Virgin Mary, who was the protagonist of both these events. In Nazareth she received the announcement of her unique motherhood and, immediately after conceiving Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was impelled by the same Spirit of love to go and help her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth, who had reached the sixth month of a pregnancy that was also miraculous. The young Mary who is carrying Jesus in her womb and, forgetting herself, hurries to the help of her neighbour, is a wonderful image of the Church in the perennial youthfulness of the Spirit, of the missionary Church of the incarnate Word called to bring him to the world and to witness to him especially in the service of charity. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit after his Ascension. But while still in the womb of Mary, the Mother of God, he brought the Holy Spirit to St Elizabeth and the baby in her womb, St John the Baptist.   The Adoration of the Shepherds El Greco, painted c.1614, Museo del Prado, Madrid [WebGallery of Art] And while they were there, the time came for [Mary] to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And the angel said to [the shepherds], “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:6-7, 10-12). Mary, the Mother of God, presents her new-born Son, Jesus, God who became Man, to the shepherds and, through them, to us. This is the mission given her by God: to bring Jesus, God who became Man, to us and to bring us to him. The Crucifixion El Greco, painted 1596-1600, Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art] Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 25-27). Jesus, God who became Man, as he is dying on the Cross because of God's great love for us, because of God's desire that we spend eternity with him, gives His mother, Mary, to us as our mother so that she will draw us to him. Pentecost El Greco [Web Gallery of Art] At the moment of the Annunciation / Incarnation the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. In Bethlehem Mary gave birth to our Saviour Jesus Christ, God who became Man. At Pentecost, the moment of the birth of the Church, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary once again as he came upon the Apostles. In a very real sense Mary is giving birth to the Church. In 2018 Pope Francis decreed that every year the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, be celebrated by the Universal Church on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday. Here is the Collect or Opening Prayer of that Mass. O God, Father of mercies,  whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross,  chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother,  to be our Mother also,  grant, we pray, that with her loving help  your Church may be more fruitful day by day  and, exulting in the holiness of her children,  may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,  who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. This collect reflects that of the Mass on Pentecost Sunday: sanctify your Church in every people and nation. It is in our baptism that we find our deepest identity as sons and daughters of God the Father, as brothers and sisters of Jesus and therefore of one another, with Mary given to us by God himself as our Mother. Veni Sancte Spiritus   Come, Holy Spirit Music: Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé The phrase Veni Sancte Spiritu is constantly repeated. This is 'Come Holy Spirit' in Latin, the official language of the Roman (Latin) Catholic Church, the largest of the more than 20 Catholic churches, all in communion with the Pope, all equally Catholic. Individuals sing verses in their own language. There are young people from every continent, a fulfilment of the verses from the First Reading of the Mass on Pentecost Sunday. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, 'Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? — we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God' (Acts 2:7, 11). Traditional Latin Mass Pentecost Thursday The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 05-19-2024 if necessary). Lesson: Acts 2:1-11. Gospel: John 14:23-31. Mysteries of Faith Guido Reni [Web Gallery of Art [Web Gallery of Art] This is a ceiling in the Vatican Palace showing from the top the Ascension, Pentecost and the Transfiguration.

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