Pentecost

 The Feast of Pentecost

Think of the Feast of Pentecost as the first birthday of the Church ... because that's the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Faithful to remain permanently and unfailingly till the end of time, guiding the Faithful to carry the Gospel to the ends of the world as Christ's disciples.

Liturgy of the Pentecost

In Acts of the Apostles 1:4-8, the risen Lord Jesus instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained that they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (1:5) and they would receive power to be Christ’s witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the Earth (1:8).

In Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11, St Luke, the author of Acts of the Apostles, methodically lists all the nations encircling Israel starting from the East to the West to show Jews from every nation had gathered (probably for the Festival of Harvest) when they received the Holy Spirit and in doing so were able to return home and help grow the early Church rapidly throughout the land. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, Christianity becomes an unstoppable force that no one can really deny any longer.

Etymology

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē), meaning "fiftieth". That's a curious name for a major feast!!

In Judaism, the 'Festival of Weeks' (Hebrew: שבועות‎ Shavuot) is a festival that is celebrated 50 days (or seven weeks; auspicious because 7 times 7; and one day) after the first day of Passover as a thanksgiving to God for receiving the Torah (5 books of law handed down by Moses); though Shavuot is often also associated with giving thanks for wheat, as it marks the end of the early wheat harvest season. Therefore, it is sometimes also referred to as 'Festival of Harvest'

Inspiration for the artwork

The original artwork began with a representation of day and night in the classic yin and yang format, illustrating how both are opposites yet interconnected in a self-perpetuating cycle.

The focus is the tree representing the Church (also seen as an outline in the background) as the living embodiment of the body of Christ - he is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5)

The Holy Spirit is represented as a Tongue of Fire, a description used in today's liturgy (Acts 2.3).