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'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' TO THE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH!
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SOLEMNITY
OF PENTECOST
STATION
AT ST. PETER’S
(Indulgence of 30 years and 30 quarantines)
Double of the First Class
Privileged Octave
Red
vestments
Missa ‘Spiritus
Domini’
The Glorious Feast of Pentecost
Taken from
St. Andrew Daily Missal - 1945
Our Lord laid the foundations of His
Church during His public life, and after His resurrection He gave it the powers
necessary for its mission. It was by the Holy Ghost that the apostles were to
be trained and endued with strength from on High (Gospel). At Pentecost we
celebrate the first manifestation of the Holy Ghost among our Lord's disciples
and the foundation of the Church itself.
We read in the Gospel that our Lord
foretold the coming of the Paraclete to His disciples and the Epistle shows us
the realization of that promise. It was at the third hour of the day (Terce,
nine o'clock a. m.) that the Spirit of God descended upon the Cenacle and a
mighty wind which blew suddenly upon the house, together with the appearance of
tongues of fire within, were the wonderful tokens of His coming. Taught by the
"light of Thy Holy Ghost" (Collect), and filled by the gifts of the
same Spirit poured out upon them (Sequence), the apostles become new men to go
forth and renew the whole world (Introit). It is at High Mass, at the third
hour, that we also receive the Holy Ghost whom our Lord "going up above
all the heavens, on this day sent down...on the children of adoption"
(Preface); for each of the mysteries of the cycle brings forth its fruits of
grace in our souls on the day which the Church keeps as its anniversary.
Almighty God, in making known to us
that His one divine Nature is possessed by three distinct Persons, reveals to
us something of His own interior life. Let us, with the Church, say to the Holy
Ghost, "Come, O Holy Ghost, and fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and
kindle in them the fire of Thy love" (Alleluia).
Commentary taken from the Liturgical year
By Ven. Abbot Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.
INTROITUS - Wisdom1: 7
Spiritus Domini replevit orbem
terrarum, alleluia: et hoc quod continet omnia, scientiam habet vocis. Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Exsurgat
Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus: et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie ejus. V. Gloria Patri. Spiritus Domini.
INTROIT
The Spirit of the Lord hath filled
the whole world, alleluia; and that which containeth all things hath knowledge
of the voice. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Let God
arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from
before His face. V. Glory be to
the Father.
The Collect tells us what favours we should petition for from our
Heavenly Father on such a day as this. It also tells us, that the Holy Ghost
brings us two principal graces: a relish for the things of God, and consolation
of heart. Let us pray that we may receive both the one and the other, that we
may thus become perfect Christians.
ORATIO
Deus, qui hodiérna die corda fidélium
Sancti Spíritus illustratióne docuísti: da nobis in eódem Spíritu recta sápere;
et de ejus semper consolatióne gaudére. Per Dóminum.
COLLECT
O God, who, by the light of the Holy
Ghost, didst this day instruct the hearts of the faithful: grant that, by the
same Spirit, we may relish what is right, and ever rejoice in his consolation.
Through our Lord.
EPISTLE - Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-11
Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the days of the Pentecost were
accomplished, they were all together in one place; and suddenly there came a
sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were
of fire, and it sat upon every one of them; and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy
Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the
multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man
heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered,
saying: Behold, are not all these that speak Galileans? And how have we heard
every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes, and
Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and
Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and
strangers of Rome, Jews also, and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians; we have
heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.
Four great events mark the sojourn of man on earth; and each of them is
a proof of God's infinite goodness towards us. The first is the Creation of man
and his Vocation to a supernatural state, which gives him, as his last end, the
eternal vision and possession of God. The second is the Incarnation of the
Divine Word, who, by uniting the Human to the Divine Nature, raises a created
being to a participation of the Divinity, and, at the same time, provides the
Victim needed for redeeming Adam and his race from the state of perdition into
which they fell by sin. The third event is that which we celebrate today, the
Descent of the Holy Ghost. The fourth is the Second Coming of the Son of God,
when he will free his spouse, the Church, from the shackles of mortality, and
lead her to heaven, there to celebrate his eternal nuptials with her. In these
four divine acts, the last of which has not yet been accomplished, is included
the whole history of mankind; all other events bear, more or less, upon them.
Of course, the animal man perceiveth not these things; he never gives them a
thought. The light shineth in darkness, and darkness doth not comprehend it.
Blessed, then, be the God of
mercy, who hath called us out of darkness, into his marvellous light, the light
of Faith! He has made us children of that generation, which is not of flesh,
nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is by this grace, that we
are now all attention to the third of God's great works, the Descent of the
Holy Ghost. We have been listening to the thrilling account given us of his
coming. That mysterious storm, that fire, those tongues, that sacred enthusiasm
of the Disciples, have told us so much of God's plans upon this our world! We
could not but say within ourselves: "Has God loved the world so much as
this? When our Redeemer was living with
us on the earth, he said to one of his disciples: God hath so loved the world,
as to give it his Only Begotten Son. The mystery achieved to-day forces us to
complete these words, and say: "The Father and the Son have so loved the
world, as to give it their own Divine Spirit!” Let us gratefully accept the
Gift, and learn what Man is. Rationalism and Naturalism will have it that man's
true happiness consists in his following their principles, which are principles
of pride and sensuality: Faith, on the contrary, teaches us humility and
mortification, and these bring us to union with our Infinite Good.
The first Alleluia- Versicle is formed from the words of one of the
Psalms, where David shows us the Holy Ghost as the Author of a new creation; as
the renewer of the earth. The second
is the fervent prayer, whereby the Church invokes the Spirit of Love upon her
Children: it is always said kneeling.
FIRST ALLELUIA - Psalm 103: 30
Alleluia, alleluia. V. Send forth Thy
Spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of earth.
SECOND ALLELUIA
(All
kneel)
Alleluia. V. Come, Holy Spirit, fill
the hearts of Thy faithful: and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Then is immediately added the Sequence. It was composed about the end of
the 12th Century; its authorship has been ascribed, and not without reasonable
probability, to the great Pope Innocent the Third. It is a hymn of exquisite
beauty, and is replete with tenderest love for Him who is co-equal God with the
Father and the Son, and is now about to establish his empire in our hearts.
SEQUENCE
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come, O Holy Spirit! And send from
heaven a ray of thy Light. Come, Father of the poor! Come, Giver of gifts!
Come, thou Light of our hearts! Thou best of Comforters! The soul's sweet Guest
and Refreshment! Her rest in toil: her shelter in heat; her solace in her woe!
O most blessed Light! fill the inmost soul of thy faithful. Without thy divine
assistance, there is nought in man, there is nought but evil. Cleanse our defilements; water our dryness;
heal our wounds. Bend our stubborn will; warm up our cold hearts; guide our
straying steps. Give to thy faithful, who hope in thee, thy holy Seven of Gifts.
Give them the merit of virtue; give them the happy issue of salvation; give
them endless joy. Amen. Alleluia.
GOSPEL - John 14: 23-31
Continuation of the holy Gospel according to
St. John.
At that time: Jesus said to his
disciples: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love
him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him: he that loveth
me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine:
but the Father's who sent me. These things have I spoken to you, abiding with
you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I
shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as
the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let
it be afraid. You have heard that I have said to you: I go away, and I come
again to you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go the
Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it
come to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. I will not now
speak many things with you. For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he
hath not any thing. But that the world may know that I love the Father: and as
the Father hath given me commandment, so do I.
The coming of the Holy Ghost is not only an event, which concerns
mankind at large: each individual of the human race is invited to receive this
same visit, which today renews the face of the earth. The merciful design of
the sovereign Lord of all things is to contract a close alliance with each one
of us. Jesus asks but one thing of us: that we love him and keep his word. If we do
this, he promises us, that the Father will love us, and will take up his abode
in our soul. He tells us that the Holy Ghost is to come; and he is coming that
he may, by his presence, complete the habitation of God within us. The sacred
Trinity will turn this poor dwelling into a new heaven, until such time as we
shall be taken, after this life, to the abode where we shall see our infinitely
dear Guest, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whose love of us is so
incomprehensibly great.
In this same passage of the
Gospel, which is taken from his Sermon at the Last Supper, Jesus teaches us,
that the Holy Spirit, who this day descends upon us, is sent, indeed, by the
Father, but sent in the name of the Son. A little further on, in the same
Sermon, Jesus says that it is he himself who sends the Paraclete. These modes
of expression show us the relations which exist, in the Trinity, between the
first two Persons and the Holy Ghost. This divine Spirit is the Spirit of the
Father, but he is also the Spirit of the Son; it is the Father who sends him, but
the Son also sends him; for he proceeds from the Two as from one principle. On
this great day of Pentecost, our gratitude should, therefore, be the same to
the Son who is Wisdom, as to the Father who is Power; for the Gift that is sent
to us from heaven, comes from both. From all eternity, the Father has begotten his
Son; and, when the fullness of time came, he gave him to men, that he might
assume our human nature, and be our Mediator and Saviour. From all eternity,
the Father and Son have produced the Holy Ghost; and, when the time marked in
the divine decree came, they sent him here upon our earth, that he might be to
us, as he is between the Father and the Son, the principle of Love. Jesus
teaches us, that the mission of the Holy Ghost followed his own, because men
required to be initiated into truth by Him who is Wisdom; for, how could they
love what they did not know? But, no sooner had Jesus consummated his work, and
exalted his Human Nature to the throne of God his Father, than he, together
with the Father, sends the Holy Ghost, in order that he may maintain within us
that word which is spirit and life, and leads us on to Love.
The Offertory is taken from
the 67th Psalm, where David foretells the coming of the Divine Spirit, whose
mission it is to confirm what Jesus has wrought. The Cenacle is grander than
the Temple of Jerusalem. Henceforth, the Church is to take the place of the
Synagogue, and Kings and people will become her submissive children.
OFFERTORY - Psalm 67: 29-30
Confirm, O God, what Thou hast
wrought in us; from Thy temple, which is in Jerusalem, kings shall offer
presents to Thee. Alleluia.
Having before her, on the Altar, the sacred gifts which have been
presented to the Divine Majesty, the Church prays, in the Secret, that the
coming of the Holy Ghost may be to the Faithful a Fire which may consume all
their dross, and a Light which may give them a more perfect understanding of
the teachings of the Son of God.
SECRET
Sanctify, we beseech Thee, O Lord,
the gifts which we offer Thee, and cleanse our hearts by the light of the Holy
Ghost. Through our Lord.
PREFACE OF PENTECOST
It is truly meet and just, right and
available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to
thee, O holy Lord, Father Al mighty, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: who
ascending above all the heavens, and sitting at thy right hand, sent down the
promised Holy Spirit, this day, upon the children of adoption. Where fore the
whole world displays its exceeding great joy. The heavenly Virtues, also, and
the angelic Powers, sing in concert a hymn to thy glory, saying unceasingly:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus...
COMMUNICANTES
In communion with, and keeping the
most holy day of Pentecost, whereon the Holy Ghost appeared to the Apostles in
countless tongues; venerating also in the first place the memory of the
glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.
HANC IGITUR
This oblation, therefore, of our
bounden duty and that of Thy whole family we beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously
to accept, which we make unto Thee on behalf of these whom Thou hast vouchsafed
to bring to a new birth by water and the Holy Ghost, giving them remission of all
their sins; and to order our days.
The words of the Communion-Anthem are from the Epistle; they celebrate
the solemn moment of the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Jesus has given himself to
the Faithful in the Blessed Sacrament: but it was the Holy Spirit who prepared
them for such a favour; who changed the bread and wine into the Body and Blood
of the Divine Victim; and who will assist the Faithful to co-operate with the
grace of this holy Communion, which nourishes and strengthens their souls unto
life everlasting.
COMMUNION - Acts 2: 2, 4
Suddenly there came a sound from
heaven, as of a mighty wind coming where they were sitting, alleluia; and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking the wonderful works of God.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Put, by the sacred mysteries, in possession of her Spouse, the Church
prays, in the Post-Communion, that the Holy Ghost may abide for ever in our
souls. She also speaks of that prerogative of the Divine Spirit, whereby he
turns our hearts, from being dry and barren of good, into very Edens of
fruitfulness. How consoling the thought, that our hearts are to be sprinkled
with the dew of the Paraclete!
POSTCOMMUNION
May the outpouring of the Holy Ghost
purify our hearts, O Lord, and by the inward sprinkling of His heavenly dew may
they be made fruitful. Through our Lord.
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