May 23, 2026
Evening Liturgy: Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost
Gospel: John 7:37-39

Today is Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter. According to the ancient tradition of the Church, this evening the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost will be celebrated. As per the newly published Roman Missal, the Pentecost Vigil may be celebrated in a shorter form or an extended form, though the Gospel reading remains the same. In light of pastoral needs, this year we provide reflections for both the Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter and the Pentecost Vigil.

The Gospel reading for the Pentecost Vigil is also taken from the Gospel of John. In this very brief passage, Jesus reveals a profound truth through mysterious words: He is the source of life, and all shall recognize the rivers flowing from His Sacred Heart through the reception of the Holy Spirit. Let us attempt to reflect on this.

Today, those whom Jesus calls the “thirsty” (cf. John 7:38) do not refer to physical thirst, but to the thirst of our souls. Due to Original Sin, we lost our dignity as adopted children of God and our intimacy with the Lord. This sense of loss and unrest causes our souls to be unable to find God, preventing us from approaching the Lord of Life and the Risen Lord to receive the graces He bestows. Deprived of divine grace, our souls gradually lose their vitality and often feel hunger and thirst.

How then can we quench such hunger and thirst? It is by being united to Him through Baptism and receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming His children. For only thus can we be reborn in Christ (cf. Romans 6:3-4). For at that moment, through the waters of Baptism, we are joined to Him; He cleanses us of Original Sin through the water flowing from His sacred side, restoring vitality to our souls which had lost their strength.

Almighty ever-living God,
who willed the Paschal Mystery
to be encompassed as a sign in fifty days,
grant that from out of the scattered nations
the confusion of many tongues
may be gathered by heavenly grace
into one great confession of your name.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica