Pentecost marks the end the Easter season and goal of the Paschal Mystery — the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus, which culminates in the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father, at the request of His Son, on Jesus’ followers.

The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father that is so tangible it is animated filling the world.

Jesus gives peace and sends the disciples out with the Spirit. Hence, today marks the start of the Church’s mission.

One of the most striking details of Pentecost is that people from many nations heard the apostles speaking in their own languages which resulted in the conversion of 3000 Jews to the Christian Faith. The listeners in the crowds who came from sixteen different geographical regions, thus experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ gift of tongues.

The Spirit did not erase their differences; instead, He made those differences a channel for God’s glory. In our world today, we often see diversity as a challenge; something that divides us. But Pentecost teaches us that diversity, when united by the Spirit, becomes a strength. The Church is not meant to be a place where everyone is the same; it is meant to be a place where everyone is one in Christ.

The miracle of tongues on Pentecost thus reverses the confusion of tongues wrought by God at the Tower of Babel, that sought to scatter the children of God, as described in Genesis 11.

Today, as we celebrate Pentecost, let us remember: the same Spirit who came upon the apostles comes upon us in Baptism and Confirmation. We are not spectators of this feast, rather we are participants in its mission.

So let us go forth speaking words of hope, building bridges of understanding, and living as people on fire with the love of God. In the Refrain for the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 104), we pray, “Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth,” asking God for a “fresh anointing” of the Spirit for all of us.