Tag: #pentecost

Whit Monday

What is Whit Monday?

Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, and most commonly as Whit Monday, is a holiday that is celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast that is determined by the date of Easter. Whit Monday specifically represents the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, also marking the resumption of Ordinary Time after Easter.

The name “Whit Monday” actually comes from the English name for one of the three baptismal seasons in Pentecost, being “Whitsunday”. The origin of “Whitsunday” itself is generally believed to come from the white garments that used to be worn by those newly baptised on this feast.

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The Holy Spirit

Who  or what is the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost?

In my understanding, the Holy Spirit is the ‘guide’, the ‘connecter’, the covenant between the individualized soul – which is a spark of God – and the Divine Presence . The energy that we call God or the Divine Presence is our source of being but we not able to connect with it because we have ‘turned away’ – often called sinned or errored –  from our source. 

Imagine that you always look downwards – which we actually do – instead of looking upwards that would enable us to connect with God. 

The Holy Spirit is our covenant, it connects us seekers with the Divine Presence through various means such as ‘hunches’, inner experiences, unexpected events and more. 

In a way, God, realized that the souls living in each human being had gone dormant because of their downward gazing state. So, God ‘sent’ a covenant, the Holy Spirit, to help the souls finding their connection back to God.

Enlightened masters, such as Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, etc. were ‘carriers’ of the Holy Spirit because of their deep connectedness with the Divine Presence. In their teachings they extended the  gifts of the Holy Spirit onto those who were attracted to their teachings.

The Holy Spirit has different names in different traditions but the functions are the same. 

Below is a quotation from Charles Fillmore, one of the founders of Unity. Please remember that this text was written in the later  1800’s by someone who was raised in the Christian faith but was later inspired to create a spiritual movement that embraces all religions, all faith, all races and other spiritual movements. 

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Pentecost

The promise of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter and is when Christians remember the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – which is how Christians understand God, and is the means by which God is active on Earth.

source

“…behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city (Jerusalem) until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:29)

 

Metaphysically reading this quote, we are promised to be blessed with a deeper relationship with the Divine Presence as long as we stay in connection within through meditation and prayer. I often heard ‘Jerusalem’ described as an inner place, similar to an inner sanctuary, where we can always commune with God. So, we are asked to stay in meditation until we are ‘clothed from the high’, until we feel one with the Divine Presence. 

 
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:1-4

The promise of the Pentecost can be understood as a fulfillment of our hard work. We have spent the 40 days of Lent releasing our limitations, than we moved into different celebrations of Easter and Gudi Pavda,  then we moved into contemplation over Passover, then the people of the Orthodox faith celebrated Easter, a lifting of the Spirit higher after having released some of its burdens or karma, and finally we have arrived to the week of the Pentecost starting today: the moment when we receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit which is freedom in being a unique expression of God as we are. 

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Messiah, as though Yahveh God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Messiah, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

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EASTER and PENTECOST

In Unity we always look for a deeper or a metaphysical meaning of events, texts, and celebrations.

When we look at Easter we see the upliftment of our consciousness to a higher level as a result of fasting or withdrawing from the worldly to the spiritual.

On Easter Monday, we celebrate a kind of renewal and a clearer and deeper understanding of our spiritual journey through release and forgiveness. We are joyful and merry. We feel lighter because we released faulty ideas, misconceptions of who we truly are and who God is for us. (read about how I see God here CLICK)

During the  days between today (Easter Monday) and Pentecost there will many spiritual observances from different traditions that we can use for our spiritual upliftment and growth. We can observe these  50 days by making the time to meditate or pray daily, focusing into the Divine Presence, reading uplifting spiritual material, and acting kindly towards ourselves and other.

Lets’ see if as a result of our efforts what happens on the day of Pentecost!

What is Pentecost and what does it have to do with Easter?

The name comes from the Greek word pentekoste which means fiftieth. Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a major festival in the Christian church, celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day of Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles – while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles – and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it marks the beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world.

The events of Acts Chapter 2 are set against the backdrop of the celebration of Pentecost in Jerusalem. There are several major features to the Pentecost narrative presented in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The author begins by noting that the disciples of Jesus “were all together in one place” on the “day of Pentecost” (ἡμέρα τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς).[27] The verb used in Acts 2:1 to indicate the arrival of the day of Pentecost carries a connotation of fulfillment.

There is a “mighty rushing wind” (wind is a common symbol for the Holy Spirit) and “tongues as of fire” appear. The gathered disciples were “filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”. Some scholars have interpreted the passage as a reference to the multitude of languages spoken by the gathered disciples, while others have taken the reference to “tongues” (γλῶσσαι) to signify ecstatic speech.

Source Wikipedia and Britannica