The Feast of Pentecost is Sunday, May 24th. It’s one of seven Principle Feasts of the Church and it brings to a close the Great Fifty Days of Easter. It’s a day when baptisms and confirmations are most appropriate. This Jewish feast for centuries celebrated the Jew’s birth as God’s Chosen People and the giving of the Law to Moses at Sinai. This ancient Feast reached it’s fruition when the Father, through the Son, poured the Holy Spirit on Mary and the apostles and through them on the Church in every age.
The gift of baptism gives a child a profound familiarity with the Holy Spirit. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is “Christocentric” and “Trinitarian.” It’s structured to open windows for children to encounter the work of the Spirit in their spiritual formation. Children discover that their heavenly Father sends to them the gift of Christ’s presence. The Father is always sending today “messengers” just as He did at the Annunciation.
Children connect to the Holy Spirit through the historical life of Jesus. They see how the Spirit was with Jesus when He was born and was raised from the dead. They discover the Spirit at work in the celebrations of the Church and learn to listen with their heart to the sacramental words and the liturgical actions. This shows the children how the Holy Spirit worked in the person of Jesus Christ Himself and in His ministry and how the Spirit continues to work within the Church today and in their lives.
