Easter

The sound of Alleluias fills the 50 days of Easter Sunday to Pentecost as we give thanks for the gift of our salvation. The Easter Triduum recalls the passion and resurrection of Christ in the sacred journey from Holy Thursday to Easter Vigil. "Dying he destroyed our death. Rising he restored our life."

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

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Pentecost Sunday

Reading I : Acts 2:1-11

All were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Pentecost mystery reverses the Tower of Babel.
In today’s first reading, the many visitors to Jerusalem are foreigners, thus they are hampered by the diversity of their languages and regional dialects.
Rather than being confused by the different languages, each person hears God’s deeds proclaimed by the disciples, in his or her own language.

Reading II : 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

Today’s second reading underlines the necessity of unity in the Holy Spirit.
The gifts of the Spirit are for the building up of the Church.
However different the gifts, when members of the Church use their gifts to complement the gifts of others, they form the one Body of Christ.

Gospel : John 20:19-23

As the Father sent me, so I send you.

In today’s Gospel, the disciples pass from a state of fear to joy.
Jesus breathes his Spirit on them and he commissions the disciples to continue his mission on earth.
Enlivened by the Spirit, the disciples are empowered to make the presence of God known throughout the world.