Pentecost Sunday 2026
Acts 2:1-11 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 John 20:19-23
The liturgical space between the celebration of the Ascension of the Lord and coming of Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a bit like that of Advent! The spiritual exercises of Advent – watching and waiting – are very much the same as we prepare for Pentecost. We are called to be open to the promptings of the Spirit and alert to the signs of the Spirit coming into our lives and the life of the Church community. Our waiting is to be more ‘waiting upon’ than ‘waiting for’. In other words, conscious of the promise of the Lord that the Spirit will come to each of the community, we assist each other to recognise and to activate our particular gifts.
We might consider what it was like for the Disciples in the Upper Room. Were they still wondering ‘what is the Holy Spirit? Will all of us receive the same gifts in equal measure? How will this affect our lives? Will we have to change, will we be changed? They may have prayed like St Augustine, “Lord, make me chaste (let me change my ways, be open to do your will), but not yet” (St Augustine Confessions).
St Paul in the 2nd Reading of today’s Mass underlines the responsibility that every disciple of the Lord has; “There are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit .... To each is given the Spirit for the common good ... the one Spirit was given to us all to drink.” If we receive gifts we are expected to use them. We receive them, as did the first group of disciples, in the context of community. So, we recognise the gifts of others too.
This co-responsibility was iterated for us by the Vatican Council when it declared “When the Son completed the work with which the Father entrusted him on earth, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost to sanctify the Church unceasingly; through the Spirit the Father gives life to the Church; the Spirit dwells in the Church; the Spirit prays in the Church and bears witness; the Spirit leads the Church into all truth and gives it unity in communion and in service; the Spirit endows it with charismatic gifts; the Holy Spirit sanctifies and guides God’s people by the sacraments and the ministries; the Holy Spirit distributes special graces among the faithful of every state of life. And to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for a good purpose.” (Lumen Gentium 1:4 Vatican ll)
The only account of the Pentecost event that we have is the one from the Acts of the Apostles, today’s 1st Reading. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke had been completed before Pentecost came, 50 days after the Lord had risen from the Dead. Saint John in our Gospel today gives us the account of another incident where the Risen Christ gave the Spirit to the disciples. There two emphases in this account. The first is ‘Peace’. Jesus brings a double greeting of Peace. Peace is a standout word in the life of Christians. Peace was the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus. Each of Paul’s letters opens with a greeting of Peace. ‘Go in peace’ is the dismissal of Jesus to those whom he cures and it is also the dismissal at the end of Mass. Peace was the bequest of Jesus to his disciples after the Last Supper.
The second standout word is ‘Forgiveness’. Our God is a God of mercy and forgiveness and it seems that as Jesus bestows on us the gift of the Holy Spirit he couples it with the great Christian virtue of Forgiveness. We too are to be instruments of forgiveness. It is a gift and it is ministry.
Forgive us our us trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us