Making Pentecost more memorable

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Maurice_Mulliga

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Pentecost.
Our Parish has decided we need to make Pentecost Sunday more special by building up our Congregation’s expectation during the weeks following Easter. Has anyone experienced any such thing in your Parishes? Would welcome suggestions, from prayers, hymns or music. Maybe some parish may have re-enacted the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and others as part of the Mass. [edited]
God Bless you all
Maurice Mulliga
 
Maurice_Mulliga said:
Pentecost.
Our Parish has decided we need to make Pentecost Sunday more special by building up our Congregation’s expectation during the weeks following Easter. Has anyone experienced any such thing in your Parishes? Would welcome suggestions, from prayers, hymns or music. Maybe some parish may have re-enacted the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and others as part of the Mass. [edited]
God Bless you all
Maurice Mulliga
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Unfortunately, re-enactments have no part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass should not be used as a venue for such things. Perhaps you can do this at the Parish Hall, after Mass.

The Church provides for special readings for the Vigil of Pentecost. Unfortunately, many of the parishes that I have seen do not do this. The readings are quite beautiful, especially the fourth option, the Dry Bones story from Ezekiel.

What you could do, for the parish’s last Mass of the day, is to carry out the Paschal Candle since the Easter season concludes with Pentecost.
 
What about a parish Novena to the Holy Spirit? I did a Google search and there were plenty of sites that had one, including one on the EWTN website.
 
our parish hasdone a novena to the Holy Spirit as earlier poster suggested.
 
Maurice_Mulliga said:
Pentecost.
Our Parish has decided we need to make Pentecost Sunday more special by building up our Congregation’s expectation during the weeks following Easter. Has anyone experienced any such thing in your Parishes? Would welcome suggestions, from prayers, hymns or music. Maybe some parish may have re-enacted the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and others as part of the Mass. [edited]
God Bless you all
Maurice Mulliga
Click to expand...
I’d love to see a parish really focus on Easter. Not just the Triduum, but throughout the Easter season, which culminates in Pentecost.

If your parish does this Divine mercy thing, which for some unfathomable reason some people insist on observing during the highest holy season of the year, so bet it. But if you’re free of that influence, and able to worship according to the universal norms for the liturgical year, I’d recommend really concentrating on the Easter/Pentecost season, which has of course existed from the beginnings of the Church. I’d recommend encouraging folks to think about Easter and Pentecost not as days, but as a season. Pay attention to the Lectionary at Sunday Mass, how it changes for this season (e.g. Acts replaces the OT reading).

Wear red on Pentecost.

That should enable you to build toward a fitting climax.
 
Thanks Diggerdomer, I think if the Congregation wore some red it would add to the specialness of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church:)
Maurice Mulliga.
 
Pentecost ranks after the Easter Triduum as being the most important feasts of the Church, even ahead of Christmas, unfortunately most parishes celebrate Pentecost as just another Sunday.

To make a liturgy more memorable we often think we have to “jazz” it up with things that appeal to our emotions. Rather the Church has a completely different way to address the more solemn feast of the year. It is called “progressive solemnity.” Benedictgal has an awesome suggestion about celebrating the Vigil of Pentecost, unfortunately I have never seem it done.

To make a liturgy more solemn there are various methods of doing so. Decoration is one way, we drag out dozens of Easter Lilies for Easter Sunday, perhaps we could do something similar with Pentecost, using red carnations and roses. We can also make use of incense. Also Pentecost has a mandatory sequence, which should be sung. A gifted priest could chant the Gospel, he could also chant the Preface and the orations. There is the Solemn Blessing for Pentecost which replaces the standard Blessing at the end of Mass.

There are other ways of celebrating Pentecost outside of Mass, our Parish often has a Penny-cost carnival after Mass, where each grade of the catechism class set up a game. There were also the usual refreshments. Kind of like the birthday party for the Church. The proceeds from the carnival would go to the Holy Childhood Foundation.
 
diggerdomer said:
If your parish does this Divine mercy thing, which for some unfathomable reason some people insist on observing during the highest holy season of the year, so bet it.
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Show some respect. That “some people” is Pope John Paul II who declared Low Sunday to be Mercy Sunday. The Supreme Pontiff is worthy of our respect whether we agree or disagree with him.
 
PacoG said:
Show some respect. That “some people” is Pope John Paul II who declared Low Sunday to be Mercy Sunday. The Supreme Pontiff is worthy of our respect whether we agree or disagree with him.
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My apologies. I meant no disrespect, but I should not have expressed my personal preference the way I did.

Thank you.
 
diggerdomer said:
My apologies. I meant no disrespect, but I should not have expressed my personal preference the way I did.

Thank you.
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No problem. 😃

I disagree with the concept of having Mercy Sunday during the Easter Octave also. However, the Pope made the decision and we must respect it out of obedience and fidelity.
 
The name of the Second Sunday of Easter was just increased. The Divine Mercy Devotion is still a private devotion and can be celebrated as such.

I think saying that we must accept the Divine Mercy devotion as a matter of obedience and fidelity to the Pope is a bit much.
 
jbebeau said:
Pentecost ranks after the Easter Triduum as being the most important feasts of the Church, even ahead of Christmas, unfortunately most parishes celebrate Pentecost as just another Sunday.

To make a liturgy more memorable we often think we have to “jazz” it up with things that appeal to our emotions. Rather the Church has a completely different way to address the more solemn feast of the year. It is called “progressive solemnity.” Benedictgal has an awesome suggestion about celebrating the Vigil of Pentecost, unfortunately I have never seem it done.

To make a liturgy more solemn there are various methods of doing so. Decoration is one way, we drag out dozens of Easter Lilies for Easter Sunday, perhaps we could do something similar with Pentecost, using red carnations and roses. We can also make use of incense. Also Pentecost has a mandatory sequence, which should be sung. A gifted priest could chant the Gospel, he could also chant the Preface and the orations. There is the Solemn Blessing for Pentecost which replaces the standard Blessing at the end of Mass.

There are other ways of celebrating Pentecost outside of Mass, our Parish often has a Penny-cost carnival after Mass, where each grade of the catechism class set up a game. There were also the usual refreshments. Kind of like the birthday party for the Church. The proceeds from the carnival would go to the Holy Childhood Foundation.
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When my friend served as rector of the Cathedral (he was the firist and only one), we decorated the sanctuary with red flowers. We used red carnations and had vases that were each filed with seven Hawaiian gingers. These flowers, blood red in color, look like tongues. We also had birds of paradise and red gladiolas.

My parochial vicar also chanted the Preface and he used incense.

And yes, all of us wore red.
 
Thankyou for your information on Pentecost Liturgy. We intend to have a Vigil Mass as well as the Sunday Morning Mass. The congregation will be encouraged to wear red. We thought we could have the Lord’s Prayer said in the language of 15 different nationalities within our community all at the same time thus reflecting gift of tongues on the Disciples. It will mean that the Leaders will have to attend twice, but our Parish Priest has to say the Mass on both occasions as he is on his own. We have a strong Phillipino influence in our choice of hymns which should engender a Holy and joyous occasion.
Our Parish does celebrate Mercy Sunday at a personal level with people invited to say the novena that Jesus gave to St Faustina beginning on Good Friday and culminating with acoming together on the Saturday, before Mercy Sunday, for Prayers and reflection before the Blessed Sacrament.
Wish you all a Happy and Holy Easter.
Maurice Mulliga
 
Maurice_Mulliga said:
Thankyou for your information on Pentecost Liturgy. We intend to have a Vigil Mass as well as the Sunday Morning Mass. The congregation will be encouraged to wear red. We thought we could have the Lord’s Prayer said in the language of 15 different nationalities within our community all at the same time thus reflecting gift of tongues on the Disciples. It will mean that the Leaders will have to attend twice, but our Parish Priest has to say the Mass on both occasions as he is on his own. We have a strong Phillipino influence in our choice of hymns which should engender a Holy and joyous occasion.
Our Parish does celebrate Mercy Sunday at a personal level with people invited to say the novena that Jesus gave to St Faustina beginning on Good Friday and culminating with acoming together on the Saturday, before Mercy Sunday, for Prayers and reflection before the Blessed Sacrament.
Wish you all a Happy and Holy Easter.
Maurice Mulliga
Click to expand...
The mulitple-lingual recitation of the Pater Noster is not something that I would recommend. Remember, the Mass is not about re-enacting something. It is, first and foremost, about our presence at the Sacrifice on Calvary. This is not about celebrating our own diversity, but, about celebrating the unity of the Church. Why not have the Pater Noster chanted in Latin? Or, why not have the General Intercessions recited in a different language per intention, as is done during Papal Masses?

Now, there is certainly not anything wrong with having hymns in different languages, as these will sometimes occur during Papal Masses on an international scale; however, we need to remember that the main focus is not on historical re-enactments, but, on the Mass itself.
 
We had a most memorable Mass , both vigil and Sunday, celebrating the birthday of the Church and the special significance of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Most Parishioners elected to wear red with many children participating well.
Our thoughts are now turning to the Feast of Christ the King. Has anyone any suggestions?
God Bless.
Maurice Mulliga
 
We had two young people receive their Confirmation at Mass yesterday, which made the celebration even more special. They were two teenagers, a brother and sister, and their family had recently come back to the Church, and the kids wanted to be Confirmed. They were very excited about it, I was told. Halleluiah!
 
Maurice_Mulliga said:
Our thoughts are now turning to the Feast of Christ the King.
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Why so far away?

Holy Trinity Sunday is next week. Do something… uh… Trinitarian… 🙂

The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) is the week after. Have a Eucharistic procession around your neighborhood. Have more occasions of Eucharistic Adoration.
 
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