Easter - a 50 Day Celebration!

• Eastertide (also known as the Easter Octave) consists of the first eight days of Easter, from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of Easter. Each day is to consist of celebrating.
• The Ascension is 40 days after Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus' ascension into Heaven.
• Pentecost concludes the Easter season as the fiftieth day. This is when we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, and the start of the earthly ministry to make disciples of all nations.

• Divine Mercy Sunday. This is the second Sunday of Easter, and was instituted in 2000 by St. John Paul II when we has Pope.
• Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (April 25)
• Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church (April 29)
• May is the 'Month of Mary'
  • May Crowning Activities from  The Religion Teacher
  • May Crowning coloring page from The Catholic Kid
  • How to Plan a Crowning for Kids from Catholic Icing
• Feast of St. Joseph, the Worker (May 1)
• Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (May 2)
• Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (May 14)
• Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (May 26)

Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come, Holy Spirit!

Pentecost is the feast that celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church just as Jesus promised. It is commonly referred to as the birthday of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles describes how the disciples and Mary were gathered in prayer when the room was filled with the sound of a strong wind and tongues of fire rested over their heads. The disciples spoke in tongues so that people from different areas could understand them. Peter gave a sermon that led to about three thousand people being baptized that day. All these events occurred on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which was a harvest feast fifty days after Passover. We celebrate Pentecost fifty days after Easter. See Acts of the Apostles 2:1-41 for the story of Pentecost. From The Essential Guide to Catholic Terms by Mary Kathleen Clavich, SND

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.
And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you will renew the face of the earth.

There are very few prayers to God as the Holy Spirit. This prayer was developed from the Pentecost liturgy. The first two lines are the verses sung with the Alleluia before the Gospel on Pentecost. The third and fourth lines are a quote from the Latin translation of Psalm 104, verse 30. It was part of a chant written for Pentecost.

The rest of the prayer, which follows “Let us pray” (when it is prayed publicly), is adapted from the former opening prayer of the feast. The feast of Pentecost now has a new opening prayer. The former prayer is the opening prayer for a Mass of the Holy Spirit such as might be celebrated at the opening of a school year.

This prayer is a good example of how a popular prayer to the Holy Spirit came to be composed by the faithful, using verses they heard sung and prayed at the Pentecost liturgy. From Loyola Press

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

• KNOWLEDGE is the ability to think about and explore God's revelation, and also to recognize there are mysteries of faith beyond us.
• UNDERSTANDING is the ability to comprehend the meaning of God's message.
• FEAR OF THE LORD is the feeling of amazement before God, who is all-present, and whose friendship we do not want to lose.
• FORTITUDE is the courage to do what one knows is right.
• COUNSEL is the ability to see the best way to follow God's plan when we have choices that relate to him.
• WISDOM helps us recognize the importance of others and the importance of keeping God central in our lives.
• PIETY helps us pray to God in true devotion.