“Pentecost” is the name of both a feast and a season of the liturgical calendar. As a feast, it is the second Sunday after the Ascension, itself forty days after Easter Sunday. That feast gives its name to the season which follows for about seventeen weeks until 14 September, when the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross ushers in the final season of the liturgical year, that of the Holy Cross. (The Syriac tradition also knew a Season of the Glorious Transfiguration, from 6 August to 13 September).
The seasons of the Church can be thought of as being like ages of our human lives: the Season of Announcement is like the period of pregnancy, in which we await the glorious nativity of the Christ Child. We then follow the Lord through His ministry over two seasons: His baptism inaugurates the first phase of His teaching (this is the “Epiphany” or manifestation of the Lord.) Then we follow Him from Cana Sunday through His healings and parables to the Week of Sufferings, which reaches its apparent climax on Great Friday, but even this tremendous day is eclipsed by the joyous triumph of His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The Season of the Resurrection is a period to rejoice in and contemplate His victory over death and sin. Then, after His Ascension, we join Our Lady and the Apostles in the first Novena, which ends with the first Pentecost. In this season, we meditate on the meaning of the Christian Gospel, how to perfect ourselves like the Apostles, to on the armour of God, and spread His Word.
I am going to suggest that the seasons provide us with great themes for our spiritual lives, with atmospheres which should enter into our prayers and thoughts. If we try to enter into the feeling of the seasons, we will join ourselves to the entire Church of Christ as it awaits with joyful expectation, as it sits at the feet of the Lord, suffers with His passion, rejoices in His Resurrection, and participates in the charitable work of spreading the Gospel. The liturgical calendar is a school for the soul, an education in itself. So, just what is the story of Pentecost?
St Luke tells us that just before his Ascension, the Lord was with the apostles: “And eating together with them, He commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard (said He) by my mouth. For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days hence” (Acts 1:4-5) Note that what is about to happen is described by the Lord as a baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is critical for understanding the Maronite concept of baptism and chrismation.
Now, Pentecost, the “fifty days,” was originally a Jewish religious period. St Luke continues: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Spirit gave them to speak.”
The Syriac theology of typology teaches us to carefully consider each name, being and phenomenon, for God works by making the multiple things of the world on a divine pattern. Here the type or original of the pattern presented to us is clear: the Holy Spirit is “the mighty wind sweeping over the waters” at the Creation (Genesis 1:2), followed by the creation of light.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the mighty wind of Pentecost and of the tongues of fire which rested on the heads of Our Lady and the apostles. Pentecost is therefore a new creation and a new baptism. Typology tells us that Creation and the Descent of the Holy Spirit are not limited to their original occurrences: they are eternal patterns in which we can share. The spiritual power of the Creation and of Pentecost are always available for us, for the changing of our lives.
St Luke continues: “Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?” (Acts 2:1-8)
In the Syriac tradition, it is said that, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit reversed the confusion of tongues which occurred when the people who had been building the Tower of Babel were scattered (Genesis 11:1-9). Pentecost is therefore, also a feast of the new possibility of the unity of humanity in Christ.
In his address to the crowds, St Peter said: “And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (says the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).
Then, says St Luke: “… when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren? Peter said to them: “Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call. And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.” They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: many wonders also and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and there was great fear in all. And all they that believed, were together, and had all things common”” (Acts 2:35-43)
The Season of Pentecost is also the season of outreach, of evangelisation. St Jacob of Serugh tells us that the Master: “In fire and spirit perfected the disciples since they were imperfect. He clothed them with the armour of fire with the Spirit who descended and taught them a new writing with great wonder. The fire of heaven, mistress of treasures, blazed in them” (353-357).
So, we can also think of Pentecost as being the Season of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a major role in the Maronite Divine Liturgy (the Offering, the Mass). The twin highlights of the Divine Sacrifice are the Words of Consecration, and the Epiclesis or “Calling Upon” the Holy Spirit, when the priest kneels behind the altar and calls out “Hear us, O Lord.”
The work of the Holy Spirit is a great mystery: we know something of it, we are enchanted by it, and drawn to contemplate it, but we shall never arrive at its end. It is sufficient for now to say that the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is repeated in each Divine Liturgy and each Baptism and Chrismation: and can occur each moment of each day of our lives.
