All [the apostles] with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers . . . When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. (Acts 1:14; 2:1).
Pentecost Sunday, at the Vigil Mass
(Saturday evening), Years ABC
NB: The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings.
Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though some
priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to this Vigil Mass
as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before Pentecost
Sunday and may be celebrated in an extended form. It also fulfils the Sunday
obligation.
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA
Gospel John 7:37-39 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried
out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the
Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet
the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Mass During the Day, Year B
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel John 15:26-27, 16:12-15 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“But when the Helper comes, whom
I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you
have been with me from the beginning.
“I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own
authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you
the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine
and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said
that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
OR
Gospel John 20:19-23 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
On the evening of that day, the first day of the
week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with
you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and
his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am
sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
And the angel
answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be
called holy—the Son of God . . . And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of
the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:35, 38).
Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, wrote the following in 1937 in his foreward to Mary, Mother of Divine Grace by Fr Joseph Le Rohellec CSSp, translated by Fr Stephen Rigby and Fr Denis Fahey CSSp.
God has set [Mary] in the beginning of our ways. From the first, the idea of Her was present to His mind along with that of the Redeemer. He only looked at poor fallen humanity trhough Her. When, in the fulness of the ages, She was born and came to maturity, He sent to Her His high angel, and to Her proposed the Divine plan of Redemption for which the world had waited for forty dismal centuries. That plan invited Her participation. Nay, more, He was pleased to make it necessary, so that if Her consent is not forthcoming, that pan will not be put into effect, and the dream of those forty centuries will not pass into actuality, will not come true, will not even continue as a dream. For there is to be no fruition. In Mary, all humanity withers because in Her it has not known the time of its visitation.
. . . Mary was formed by the Holy Trinity for the work She had to do. 'She was the fruit of an eternal deliberation,' says St Augustine.
Mary is central to God's plan for our salvation. When she said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her.
When Elizabeth
heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud
cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my
Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:41-43).
Here is part of his Regina Caeli address on Pentecost Sunday 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Dear friends, this year the Solemnity of Pentecost occurs on the last day of the month of May on which the beautiful Marian feast of the Visitation is normally celebrated. This fact invites us to let ourselves be inspired and, as it were, instructed by the Virgin Mary, who was the protagonist of both these events.
In Nazareth she received the announcement of her unique motherhood and, immediately after conceiving Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was impelled by the same Spirit of love to go and help her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth, who had reached the sixth month of a pregnancy that was also miraculous. The young Mary who is carrying Jesus in her womb and, forgetting herself, hurries to the help of her neighbour, is a wonderful image of the Church in the perennial youthfulness of the Spirit, of the missionary Church of the incarnate Word called to bring him to the world and to witness to him especially in the service of charity.
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit after his Ascension. But while still in the womb of Mary, the Mother of God, he brought the Holy Spirit to St Elizabeth and the baby in her womb, St John the Baptist.
And while they were there, the time came for [Mary] to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman,
behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your
mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
(John 25-27).
Jesus, God who became Man, as he is dying on the Cross because of God's great love for us, because of God's desire that we spend eternity with him, gives His mother, Mary, to us as our mother so that she will draw us to him.
Extraordinary Form of the Mass
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
Vigil of Whitsunday or Whitsun Eve
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 5-22-2021 if necessary).
Lesson Acts 19:1-8. Gospel John 14:15-21.
Pentecost or Whitsunday
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 5-23-2021 if necessary).
Lesson Acts 2:1-11. Gospel John 14:23-31.
Authentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.
