The Holy Spirit, Life-Breath of the Church
“The primary need of the Church is
always to live out Pentecost.”
Paul VI
The first Pentecost, foundation of the Church
At the Ascension, when Jesus was on the point of leaving his apostles, he
charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father,
“of which you have heard, He said, from my own lips: John baptized with water,
but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” (Acts 1.4-5).
In obedience to the Master’s injunction, the apostles returned to the “Upper
Room” in Jerusalem, their customary meeting place. There they waited for the
fulfillment of the promise, united and persevering in prayer, in communion of
hope and expectation, with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In the Acts of the Apostles we read how the Holy Spirit appeared to the first
group of the one hundred and twenty disciples on the day of Pentecost, under the
form of a violent wind which shook the house, and of tongues like fire which
came to rest on each of them.
This outpouring of the Spirit signals the visible birth of the Church: it
transformed the fearful, trembling apostles, beginning with Peter, into fearless
witnesses of Christ, who would henceforward proclaim, fearlessly and cogently,
that the crucified Jesus was risen and alive, and demonstrate the truth of their
claim by signs and wonders, up to and including martyrdom.