Day 103: The Power of Pentecost

On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance. CCC 731

In today's reading, the Catechism speaks firstly of the coming of the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8) and it is through His love that we have been gifted the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). The Holy Apostles received Him first at Pentecost, which was promised by Christ, and as the Catechism Compendium elaborates:

Fifty days after the Resurrection at Pentecost the glorified Jesus Christ poured out the Spirit in abundance and revealed him as a divine Person so that the Holy Trinity was fully manifest. The mission of Christ and of the Spirit became the mission of the Church which is sent to proclaim and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity. (#144)

We have been restored to a correct relationship with God through the Holy Spirit and we are called to respond to the Spirit as Christ's witnesses. The importance of witness cannot be emphasized enough, especially today. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I notes:

Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975 in Evangelii Nuntiandi, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses." We have to not just say what we believe; we have to live what we believe in... We have to pray because we can only live the fruits of the Spirit by the power given by the Holy Spirit. On our own, we cannot do this. But we are not on our own. (p. 210)