Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
Pentecost Jesus completing his act of saving us through his passion, death, and resurrection. As we heard in the Gospel today, on Easter Sunday evening, Jesus appeared to the apostles gathered in the Upper Room and gave them the Holy Spirit to forgive sins in his name: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23) Fifty days later at Pentecost, Jesus in heaven sent the Holy Spirit for the inauguration of the public mission of the Church (see Acts 2:33). Many times Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit (e.g. John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7; Acts 1:8) and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. We could say that Pentecost completed Easter. We see that symbolized in the Paschal Candle lit all during Easter until Pentecost Sunday and the double alleluia again today at the end of Mass as during the Easter Octave.
For us, our Pentecost is the Sacrament of Confirmation. The apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the bishops, successors of the apostles, hand on the Holy Spirit to us in the sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation is the extension of Pentecost to us. We call the sacrament “Confirmation” because it is a confirmation and strengthening of the grace of baptism. Since the bishop anoints us with sacred chrism oil on the forehead during confirmation, the Eastern churches call the sacrament “Chrismation.” It is the same sacrament; we call it Confirmation and they call it Chrismation. These are some of the words that a bishop may use when giving the sacrament of Confirmation:
On the day of Pentecost the Apostles received the Holy Spirit as the Lord had promised. They also received the power of giving the Holy Spirit to others and so completing the work of Baptism . . . Bishops are successors of the Apostles and have this power of giving the Holy Spirit to the baptized, either personally or through the Priests they appoint . . . In our day the coming of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation is no longer marked by the gift of tongues, but we know his coming by faith.
We heard in our first reading from Acts (2:1-11) that the coming of the Holy Spirit was accompanied by wind and tongues of fire, and because of the tongues of fire we wear red vestments today. The wind and fire were visible signs of what was taking place interiorly in the apostles. When we receive the sacraments, there are also visible signs of what is taking place interiorly in us. For example: in baptism water poured over the head; in Confirmation the bishop anoints the forehead with chrism; the sick are anointed with the oil on the forehead and palms of the hand; in the Sacrament of Holy Orders in which priests are ordained, the bishop imposes hands on the head of the one being ordained. At Pentecost wind and fire accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit, and anointing with the oil of chrism by the bishop is the sign accompanying our Pentecost in Confirmation.
In the first reading, we heard that the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost brought unity because people from all over the world of that time could hear the apostles speaking in their own languages (Acts 2:4-6). It was not that the apostles spoke in tongues as in a charismatic meeting; they spoke in foreign languages and all the foreigners in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Shavuot understood the apostles speaking in their own language. On the day of the public inauguration of the Church, the confusion of languages since the Tower of Babel was healed (Gen 11). Pentecost was the undoing of Babel. That is emphasized by the list of peoples and nations at the end of the first reading where we see that the visitors in Jerusalem for their Jewish feast were from all over the world (Acts 2:8-11). So, on the very day of the Church’s public inauguration on Pentecost Sunday, the Church was catholic, because the word “catholic” means “universal” referring to being all over the world. It was even more amazing that the people from all over could understand the apostles speaking in their own languages because Galilee had its own distinctive accent which among other things used to drop syllables in words (Longenecker Acts 272). Just as we might find it difficult to understand people in other parts of this country because their accent is different, it was the same in Palestine; the Galilean accent was distinctive, yet all the foreigners in Jerusalem understood the apostles speaking in their own foreign language (See Matt 26:73).
The apostles were strengthened at Pentecost to minister boldly despite the threat of persecution. Confirmation is the extension of Pentecost to us, and in the words of the Catechism,
it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross. (Catechism §1303)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost: the Holy Spirit comes to us in the sacraments 2024
Pentecost: Proud to be Catholic 2021