Many of us do not realize that Pentecost is one of the most important feasts in our Church Calendar. I would even say that, to the Church, Pentecost is more important than Christmas. While this may sound surprising, shocking even, I have good reason to think this. If we look at Church’s calendar, we spend 4 weeks (at most) in Advent preparing for Christmas. The celebratory season of Christmas is frustratingly short, in my opinion, ending after a week or two.

Within a month or two, Lent begins. Lent is much longer than Advent, our first clue of the importance of Easter. The Easter Vigil is the most extensive and extraordinary liturgy within the Roman Catholic Church. The celebratory season of Easter is just as long as—in fact, it’s slightly longer—than the season of Lent. Just looking at the calendar, we can see the Church wants us to know that Easter is the most important Mystery of our faith. Without Easter, we have not been saved. Yes, the Incarnation of our Lord and his birth on Christmas changed human history, but that was not went the power of sin and tyranny of death were conquered. That moment was Easter. But there is more.

Any time we see 40 in scripture or in the Church, it is a time of preparation. Many of us understand this. But there is another important number in scripture: 50. Fifty is the number of celebration, fulfillment, and jubilee. For example, every fifty years, the people of Israel were to celebrate a jubilee year: captives were to be freed, lands returned to their ancestral tribes, the entire year was to be of rest and jubilation over the freedom given them by God. (Leviticus 25:8-22) The Jewish people never celebrated this year, and this is one of the great failures of Israel. One of the many things the Messiah would do, according to Isaiah, was proclaim a year of favor and vindication from the Lord. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Forty(ish) days after Easter, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. On this day, our Messiah united Heaven and Earth through the Body of Christ, the Church. With her head in Heaven and her body both in Heaven and on Earth, we were given the incredible gift: we can glimpse heaven, Christ, and the Communion of Saints while still on Earth. On the Ascension, we realize that we have not just been freed from the power sin and tyranny of death, but we have also been called to Heaven. But there is more.

Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate Pentecost. On this day, the Holy Spirit descended from the Father, through the Son, and into the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Church. On this day, we discovered that not only have we been saved from sin, not only has death been conquered, not only have we been called to Heaven, but God himself has seen fit to live within our hearts. On Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit came to make his dwelling within each of us. We have become like Mary: bearers of God into the world. What an extraordinary gift we have been given! What an incomprehensible treasure! Pentecost, then, is the fulfillment of the Easter Mystery. The Suffering, Death and Resurrection of the Son of God culminates and is fulfilled when the Holy Spirit of God comes to reside in our hearts. We do not have to wait until our death on this earth to join God in Heaven, we simply have to open our eyes and our hearts to the fact that he lives within us now!

Pentecost is indeed a great feast. Prior to the days when we called them “Sundays of Ordinary Time”, we called most of the Sundays of the year “Sundays after Pentecost.” It was a good reminder that our entire life as Christians should revolve around the actions of the Holy Spirit working through us. While it may be a little harder to see it now, the Church tells us, through her calendar—a calendar of most ancient origin—that on Pentecost there are great treasures in store for us if we enter fully into the Mysteries we celebrate.