May 24, 2026
Pentecost Sunday
Gospel: John 20:19-23

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Pentecost. The passage from the Gospel of John describes Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples after His Resurrection. In this manifestation, Jesus bestows upon them the Holy Spirit.

If we attend to John’s description of the room where the Apostles were gathered, we notice that while the doors were locked, Jesus stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!” He then imparted to His disciples the breath of the Holy Spirit. To us, this seems contrary to common sense; yet for the Lord, risen from the dead, all things are possible.

By reason of Original Sin, we are conceived and born into a state of sin, and the wage of sin is death. Bound by this sin, we cannot, like Christ, pass through walls without disturbing the order of the material world. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, by His holy Cross, conquered death. Through His sacrificial offering, He presented an atonement for the sins of the world to the Father, reconciling us to God and restoring creation. The Risen Lord, glorified in His Resurrection, manifests His divinity by transcending all spatial limitations, moving freely according to His divine will.

Jesus, using a form intelligible to the Jews—breathing upon them—causes the Apostles to receive the Holy Spirit, so that this divine breath might rest upon each of them. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit from the hands of the successors of the Apostles, becoming adopted children of God. Our priests, who have received Holy Orders from these successors, share in the authority granted to the Apostles to forgive and retain sins. Whenever we approach the confessional to seek reconciliation with God and the world, our priests, hearing our confession, absolve us of our faults. They admonish us, urging us to form a firm purpose of amendment, to renounce all occasions of sin, and to make reparation for our offenses—and those of the whole world—through penance and prayer. By uniting our sufferings to the Passion of Christ, we seek to become true children of God.

O God, who by the mystery of today’s great feast
sanctify your whole Church in every people and nation,
pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit
across the face of the earth
and, with the divine grace that was at work
when the Gospel was first proclaimed,
fill now once more the hearts of believers.
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