Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. You’ve heard this title “Pentecost” many times. Do you know what it means? Pentecost literally means “50th.” Pentecost is a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Christians. What do we celebrate on Pentecost? WE believe and celebrate the following: on the day of Pentecost…the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and Blessed Virgin Mary in fiery tongues…the frightened apostles were transformed into fiery preachers and evangelizers by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit…the audience experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues, hearing Peter speaking in their languages…and the early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for faith after “receiving the Holy Spirit.” Wow! That’s a lot to celebrate! What does all this mean for us in our daily lives? The Spirit is alive and breathing life into Christians in their daily lives IF each of us allows Him into our hearts. God never forces Himself on any one. Rather, he waits for each of us to say, “Come, Holy Spirit.” We need to permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives within us! Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16). At our Confirmation, the Holy Spirit offered us gifts for our daily living…gifts like understanding, wisdom, patience, and courage. Living the Christian life well is no easy task. It demands a radical commitment to the way of Jesus. We need these gifts of the Holy Spirit to be a solid Christian. On Pentecost we thank the Holy Spirit for keeping us spiritually alive and devoted to “loving God and our neighbor.” In the end, that’s all that’s going to matter. An old beggar lay on his deathbed. His last words were to his youngest son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips. “Dear son," he said, “I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.” After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him. One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound. “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said. To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold. “My dear young man," he said, “why do you waste your time begging? You are a rich man. That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.” We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl. We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits with us. On this PentecostSunday we are invited to experience and appreciate the transforming, sanctifying, and strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit within us. This is also a day to renew the promises made to God during our Baptism and Confirmation, to profess our faith, and practice is oneness of heart and oneness of love. As Christians, our DNA reads the same: we are all part of the Body of Christ. GOSPEL QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Have you checked lately to see if the Spirit IS dwelling within you?