EASTER ENDS WITH PENTECOST AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

8TH SUNDAY OF EASTER - THE SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST

JESUS IS RISEN AND ASCENDED, ALLEULIA AMEN !! For 50 Days we have celebrated Jesus' New and Risen Life and the summation of His public ministry with the Apostles and other Disciples. Before the Risen Christ ascended He commisioned His followers to proclaim the Good News to the whole Creation. After the Ascension, the Risen Christ kept His farewell promise to send the Holy Spirit to remain with the Community of Believers until Jesus' glorious Second Coming at the end of time. Today we commemorate PENTECOST SUNDAY, the fiftieth and final day of Easter and the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the shuttered, locked in the upper room, Disciples. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit imparted on the day of that first Pentecost, gave the original disciples of Jesus the Christ the courage, wisdom and strength, to be sustained in carrying out their foundational ministry in God's Church. Those Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit continue to renew us the People of God here and now, to be faithful witnesses to the Risen and Ascended Jesus and the Gospel values He hearkens us to carry out. Pentecost, the Sacrament of Confirmation, and Masses of the Holy Spirit, customary celebrated at the beginning and end of school years, help us encounter the power of faith, fellowship and fidelity, the Spirit imparts upon us. As believers and followers of the Risen/Ascended Christ, we are Easter People. As recipients of all the Holy Spirit imparts we become Easter/Pentecost People of God. This week and as we move beyond the Easter Season may the power of the Resurrection, Ascension and the Sending of the Spirit, truly transform your lives setting you on fire with the power of Pentecost and God's Spirit to be faithful witnesses to building up of God's Kingdom.........Fr. Troy