This Sunday, which is the last weekend of the Easter Season, is also Pentecost Sunday , the birthday of the Church and when God gave the gift of His Holy Spirit to mark the beginning of her mission to evangelize the world. This “birthday gift” from God is the Advocate, the Counselor and the Spirit of Love — that is of God’s Love, and not an ordinary love with a lowercase l.

The Easter Season concludes with Solemn Vespers, meaning a sunset evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic Church as well as in some other denominational Christian churches. The word comes from the Greek ἑ σ π έ ρα and the Latin vesper , meaning "evening". In the Church we also mark this liturgical change of seasons by removing the Paschal Candle from a prominent place in the Sanctuary and returning it to its rightful place near the Baptismal font.

Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are signs to us of God’s unconditional and unending Love. Through faith we understand that God’s Love created us in His Image and Likeness, that His Love redeemed us by the blood of His Son on the Cross, and now and continuously He saves us in His Love — leading and revealing us to all Truth, and showing us how to make it applicable — through faith — to our everyday lives, and then providing us with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit ( wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord ) to enable us to make that faith part of our daily lives: thus, we are called to Believe it. Live it. Share it!

As we consider the celebration and meaning of Pentecost in our Church and in our lives, we must ask just “how do I/we celebrate Pentecost — the giving, the coming, and the residing within us — of God’s LOVE? Am I one who gives a verbal response only? A form of religious lip service with no follow - through. Am I one who gives a response in action — actually doing His Will and His mission on earth — feeding the hungry, supporting the Knights of Malta? Am I one who simply doesn’t answer — like a child in class who is unprepared in the assigned work, slipping lower into the seat and using the book as if it were a cloaking device or Gyges’ ring? Or perhaps worse yet, does indifference set into me — like the one who watches the television commercials for St. Jude Children’s or Shriner’s Hospital or even Tunnel - To - Towers stating how I have to send in a check and then never do?

As we close out the Easter season and plan for our future discipleship in Christ, let us listen to the very words of Christ at the end of today’s Gospel, as He says: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Christ has given us His Peace. A peace that is beyond all human understanding; a peace that frees us and gives us the fullness of what it truly means to be human — and made in His own likeness and image — able to become like Him in this world — sharing in His Divine Attributes (Joy, Charity and Love). And with that Peace embedded in our very being we are now able to freely receive (accept — an act of the will on our part) His Holy Spirit (given first at our Baptism and fully granted to us in Confirmation); and as the Father sent the Christ, so now the Christ sends us — as His brothers and sisters to fulfill His Will (Will you finish my work in the Church). Receive the Holy Spirit!

How many of us will say today: Yes, Lord, I’ve come to do Your Will! I shall freely and willingly receive Your Holy Spirit, and I will go forth to share Your Love in my actions with the world. How many of us — to celebrate Easter on Pentecost Day — will Believe it. Live it. Share it