Bengaluru: Archbishop Bernard Moras said Pentecost calls for holiness. Everyone is called to be holy like the heavenly Father. The Church teaches about three aspects -the Trinity. The Creed the faithful recite every Sunday speaks about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Archbishop was speaking on the occasion of the Feast of Pentecost and during a night vigil in preparation to the feast on Saturday-Sunday night at St Patrick’s Church in Bengaluru.
The Holy Spirit takes the faithful into the reality of the work of sanctification. The bible mentions the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of human beings to create unity, holiness and a sense of universal mission through a historical succession which began with the Apostles. The Archbishop also touched upon the events, the birth of the Church, the diversity of languages, the Church’s mission, the preaching of the good news and the beginning of the life of grace among many other aspects and the deep meaning of the Pentecost and the foundation of the Church, Peter and other Apostles being the pioneers. And the Pope, Bishops and priests remain as their successors.
PENTECOST NIGHT VIGIL 2015 – “A Call to Holiness”
The Bengaluru Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (BCCRS),organized the All Bangalore Pentecost Night Vigil, for the 5th consecutive year.
As this year has been dedicated as the “Year of Consecrated Life” by Pope Francis, the BCCRShas also focused this year on the same theme “A Call to Holiness”
The Pentecost Night Vigil saw participation from over 4000 people, which includedpriests, religious and faithful, from across the various parishes in the archdiocese of Bangalore. People came from far and near using specially arranged vehicles and other means of transport.People of various language groups such as Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Konkani and Englishgathered to celebrate the feast of the Pentecost and experience a fresh anointing and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The move of the Spirit also seemed to have brought about unity and harmony amongheterogeneous groups. Prayer services were conducted in at least three languages, catering to the spiritual needs of the faithful.
The night was devoted with sessions of anointed Praise and Worship, which geared themselves up for the Word of God. This was followed by the breaking of the Word by anointed priests and lay preachers. The preachers included Rev Fr Jacob Britto (in Kannada), Fr Jose Vettiankal(in English), Fr Joseph Abraham(in Tamil) and Bro. Simon Rodrigues.
The preachers both priests and lay persons elaborated on the meaning of the Pentecost. In the New Testament, that day the Holy Spiritdescended upon the disciples of Jesus. Pentecost is the Greek name for the spring harvest festival of the Israelites, which was going on when the Holy Spirit came. The disciples were together in Jerusalem after Jesus’ Resurrection and return to heaven, fearful because he had left them. On that morning, however, “there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Because of the festival, crowds of visitors were in Jerusalem, speaking many languages, but the disciples of Jesus moved among them and spoke to them all, and “every man heard them speak in his own language” about “the wonderful works of God.” Peter then made a powerful speech to the crowds in the city, and many were baptized as new followers of Jesus.
(Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor. 16:8). The festival so named is first spoken of in Ex. 23:16 as “the feast of harvest,” and again in Ex. 34:22 as “the day of the firstfruits” (Num. 28:26). From the sixteenth of the month of Nisan (the second day of the Passover), seven complete weeks, i.e., forty-nine days, were to be reckoned, and this feast was held on the fiftieth day. The manner in which it was to be kept is described in Lev. 23:15-19; Num. 28:27-29. Besides the sacrifices prescribed for the occasion, every one was to bring to the Lord his “tribute of a free-will offering” (Deut. 16:9-11). The purpose of this feast was to commemorate the completion of the grain harvest. Its distinguishing feature was the offering of “two leavened loaves” made from the new corn of the completed harvest, which, with two lambs, were waved before the Lord as a thanks-giving offering. The day of Pentecost is noted in the Christian Church as the day on which the Spirit descended upon the apostles, and on which, under Peter’s preaching, so many thousands were converted in Jerusalem (Acts 2).
The above sessions were followed by a Eucharistic Celebration. The Archbishop who presided over the Eucharistic celebration stressed the relevance and importance of the Eucharist in today’s context. Several priests concelebrated the Eucharist. Fr Anthony Swamy, Chancellor and PRO, FrSagayanathan, Parish Priest of St. Patrick’s were among others present on the auspicious occasion.
In conclusion, Fr Jacob Britto(Spiritual Director BCCRS), thanked the Archbishopfor his constant support, all the priests and religious for their contributions and the laity for the participation and warm response to this great feast of the Pentecost. The solemn celebration came to an end with the priests laying their hands on the faithful and blessing them with an infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The feast of Pentecost was regarded a night of great blessings seen and unseen on all the faithful gathered and for the archdiocese of Bangalore as a whole.
Please pray for Gracy who is suffering from acute bronchitis,asthma,allergy for the past few days which is not receding how much ever prayers we do or medicines we take. For the past 2 nights we have spent sleepless nights in fear/anxiety over her condition.
Please pray for her healing and for the destruction of every evil forces of sorcery,witchcraft,black magic or others practised against her and the family members.