Today's devotion: Pentecost, what you need to know and the supplication to say
If you go back and read the Old Testament, you will find that Pentecost was one of the Jewish holidays. Only they didn't call it Pentecost. This is the Greek name. The Jews called it the harvest festival or the festival of the weeks. Five places are mentioned in the first five books: Exodus 23, Exodus 24, Leviticus 16, Numbers 28 and Deuteronomy 16. It was the celebration of the beginning of the first weeks of the harvest. In Palestine there were two crops every year. The early collection took place during the months of May and June; the final harvest came in the fall. Pentecost was the celebration of the beginning of the first wheat harvest, which meant that Pentecost always fell during the middle of May or sometimes in early June.
There have been several festivals, celebrations or celebrations that have taken place before Pentecost. There was Easter, there was bread without yeast and there was the feast of the firstfruits. The feast of the firstfruits was the celebration of the beginning of the barley harvest. Here is how you understood the date of Pentecost. According to the Old Testament, you would go on the day of the celebration of the firstfruits and, starting from that day, you would have counted 50 days. The fiftieth day would be the day of Pentecost. So the first fruits are the beginning of the barley harvest and Pentecost the celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest. Since it was always 50 days after the first fruits, and 50 days equals seven weeks, a "week of weeks" has always come later. Therefore, they called it the Harvest Festival or the Week of Weeks.
Why is Pentecost significant for Christianity?
Modern Christians view Pentecost as a feast, not to celebrate a crop of wheat, but to remember when the Holy Spirit invaded the Church in Acts 2.
1. The Holy Spirit filled the Church with power and added 3.000 new believers.
In Act 2 he reports that after Jesus had ascended to heaven, Jesus' followers were gathered for the Grape Harvest Festival (or Pentecost), and the Holy Spirit "filled the whole house where they were sitting" (Acts 2: 2 ). "All were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2: 4). This strange event attracted a great crowd and Peter stood up to speak to them about the repentance and the gospel of Christ (Acts 2:14). At the end of the day the Holy Spirit came, the Church grew by 3.000 people (Acts 2:41). This is why Christians still celebrate Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament and promised by Jesus.
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit in John 14:26, who would be the assistant for his people.
"But the Assistant, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and bring to your memory all that I have said to you."
This New Testament event is also significant because it fulfills an Old Testament prophecy in Joel 2: 28-29.
"And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream of dreams, your young people will see visions. Also on my servants, men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. "
SUPPLICATE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
"Come Holy Spirit,
pour upon us the source of your graces
and arouses a new Pentecost in the Church!
Come down to your bishops,
on priests,
on religious
and on the religious,
on the faithful
and on those who don't believe,
on the most hardened sinners
and on each of us!
Descend upon all the peoples of the world,
on all breeds
and on every class and category of people!
Shake us with your divine breath,
cleanse us from all sin
and free us from all deception
and from all evil!
Ignite us with your fire,
let us burn
and we consume ourselves in your love!
Teach us to understand that God is everything,
all our happiness and joy
and that only in him is our present,
our future and our eternity.
Come to us Holy Spirit and transform us,
Save us,
reconcile us,
unite us,
consecrate us!
Teach us to be totally of Christ,
totally yours,
totally of God!
We ask you this for the intercession
and under the guidance and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
your Immaculate bride,
Mother of Jesus and our Mother,
the Queen of Peace! Amen!