Sunday Gospel: Pentecost Sunday, Year A. John 20:19-23

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek for fiftieth day. Pentecost Sunday ends the season of Easter and comes as a Sabbath day after seven weeks of seven days. The feast of Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples and launching them on their mission of continuing the ministry of Jesus. The actual events of that first Pentecost are recorded in the book of Acts and is this week’s first reading. This Gospel is a reminder that Jesus had already instilled the disciples with the Spirit, but they did not appear to truly realise the significance of what He had done. It seems that they needed a more tangible experience to fully understand the significance of the event. The first reading from Acts records the very physical experience of the Spirit entering their core as a roaring wind before settling upon them as tongues of flame. There are frequent references in the Gospels to Jesus being ‘filled with the Spirit’. It is this Spirit with which He was filled that He breathed upon His disciples; it is that same Spirit that we receive in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Religious Education Website - Transfiguration Parish

Although we are no longer Remote Learning, the “Parish of Transfiguration” website is still being updated weekly and features the Sunday Gospel of the coming week, as well as reflection questions, and other resources and ideas for families who want to grow in faith together. This week, the focus is on Pentecost. We hope the site will be engaging and enriching for the families in our communities of Holy Trinity and Saints Peter and Paul.

You will also find, on the website, information from our Parish, including the bulletin and Prayers of Intercession to share at home, as well as a video that Fr John has uploaded for our families. The Parish Youth Ministers, Maddie and Grace have added content to the site also, so I encourage you to take a look.

Below is a link to the site for this week.

http://parishoftransfiguration.weebly.com/week-5.html

Welcome back once again, God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator