24 May 2026 (Sunday) Pentecost Sunday (Pentecost Solemnity)

24 May 2026 (Sunday)

Pentecost Sunday (Pentecost Solemnity)

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 ℟. 30 or: ℟. Alleluia.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
Gospel: John 20: 19-23

First Reading : Acts 2:1‐11

(Reader) A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
  Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 ℟. 30 or: ℟. Alleluia.

Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Bless the Lord, my soul!
  Lord God, how great you are,
How many are your works, O Lord!
  The earth is full of your riches.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
You take back your spirit, they die,
  returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created;
  and you renew the face of the earth.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!
May the glory of the Lord last for ever!
  May the Lord rejoice in his works!
May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
  I find my joy in the Lord.
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or
Alleluia!

Second Reading : 1 Corinthians 12:3‐7,12‐13

(Reader) A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians.

No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
  There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.
  Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : John 20:19‐23

(Reader) A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
(All) Glory to you, O Lord.

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.
‘As the Father sent me,
so am I sending you.’
After saying this he breathed on them and said:
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
For those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven;
for those whose sins you retain,
they are retained.’

(Reader) The Gospel of the Lord.
(All) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For our reflection today:

The words of the Popes.

Today, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the Gospel takes us to the Upper Room, where the apostles had taken refuge after the death of Jesus (Jn  20:19-23). On the evening of Passover, the Risen One presents himself precisely into that situation of fear and anguish and, breathing on them, says: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). In this way, with the gift of the Spirit, Jesus wishes to free the disciples from fear, from this fear that keeps them holed up at home, and he frees them so that they may be able to go out and become witnesses and proclaimers of the Gospel. Let us dwell a little on what the Spirit does: he frees from fear. The disciples had closed the doors, the Gospel says, “for fear” (v. 19). The death of Jesus had shocked them, their dreams had been shattered, their hopes had vanished. And they had closed themselves inside. Not only in that room, but within, in the heart. I would like to underline this: closed inside. How often do we too shut ourselves in? How often, because of some difficult situation, because of some personal or family problem, because of the suffering that marks us or the evil we breathe around us, do we risk slipping slowly into loss of hope and lack the courage to go on? However, the Gospel offers us the remedy of the Risen One: the Holy Spirit. He frees us from the prisons of fear. Because this is what the Spirit does: he makes us feel God’s closeness, and thus, his love casts out fear, illuminates the way, consoles, sustains in adversity. Faced with fears and closure, then, let us invoke the Holy Spirit for us, for the Church and for the whole world: let a new Pentecost cast out the fears that assail us and revive the flame of God’s love. (Pope Francis, Regina Caeli, 28 May 2023)

PENTECOST SUNDAY – HOLY MASS
PAPAL MASS
HOMILY OF POPE LEO XIV
St Peter's Basilica Sunday, 24 May 2026

Dear brothers and sisters,
The Easter season reaches its fulfillment today on the Solemnity of Pentecost. To highlight the continuity of this salvific event, the Gospel takes us back to the “first day of the week” (Jn 20:19), that is, to that new day on which the risen Jesus appeared to the disciples, showing them “his hands and his side” (v. 20). The Lord reveals his glorious body, specifically his wounds, the marks of the crucifixion. These signs of the Passion, more eloquent than words, are now transfigured; he who was dead lives forever.

Upon seeing the Lord, the disciples too are restored back to life. They had shut themselves in the Upper Room, overcome by fear, but Jesus comes and stands among them, even though the doors were closed, and fills them with joy. He passes through our “death,” opening the tomb and throwing it wide open when there was no way out for us. Christ accompanies his actions with the words: “Peace be with you” (v. 19); and immediately afterward, he breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. The risen One is full of life. After having proven that he was restored to life as true man, he bestows the life of God as the beloved Son of the Father who has become, for our sake, our brother and Redeemer. In the same Upper Room where he instituted the new and eternal covenant, Jesus pours out the Spirit. The place of the Last Supper and the betrayal is transformed; the tomb of the Apostles becomes, for the entire Church, the womb of the Resurrection. Pentecost is therefore a Paschal feast and a feast of the body of Christ, which by grace is all of us.

In celebrating this mystery, I would like to focus on three aspects.

First of all, the Spirit of the risen One is the Spirit of peace. Indeed, through his Paschal Mystery, Christ restores peace between God and humanity, and the Holy Spirit pours this peace into our hearts and spreads it throughout the world. This peace stems from forgiveness and leads us to forgiveness. It begins with the forgiveness given by Jesus himself, whom we betrayed, condemned and crucified. Surprising us with his love, the risen One himself says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:23). With these words, Jesus involves us in a divine work, for only God can forgive sins (cf. Mk 2:7). This authority is bestowed as a sign of universal reconciliation: the Lord pours out his Spirit of peace from one end of history to the other, for he who has redeemed everyone from death excludes no one. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is Lord and giver of life since the beginning of creation, when he hovered over the waters (cf. Gen 1:2); and now, in renewing creation, he transforms the history of the world. Pentecost truly appears as the feast of the New Covenant, the Covenant between God and all the peoples of the world. While the roaring sound from above, the wind and the tongues of fire in the Upper Room are reminiscent of the ancient signs at Sinai (cf. Acts 2:2–3; Ex 19:16–19), God’s holy law is inscribed in our hearts, engraved by the Spirit with letters of love in the flesh of Christ and in his body the Church.

This law is the rule of peace: It is the twofold commandment of love that the Spirit reminds us of with every heartbeat. With our heart, we can therefore pray “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” for he has already been given to us. We can long for him, for he has already been promised to us. We can welcome him, for he himself is the sweet guest of the soul.

A second point is that the Spirit of the risen One is the Spirit of mission: “As the Father has sent me,” says the Lord, “so I send you” (Jn 20:21). We are consequently drawn into Jesus’ mission, the mission of the one who proceeds from God and returns to God through the power of the Spirit — who in turn proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is worshiped and glorified with them as one God. The Holy Spirit is the living charity of Christ that fills us, spurs us on and sustains us in our mission (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). While bestowing on the Apostles the power to preach (cf. Acts 2:4), the same Spirit teaches humanity the word of salvation. Now that the Apostles have received the breath of the risen One within themselves, this proclamation pours from their lips, borne by the voice of Peter and of those who are with him. On the very day of Pentecost, the Apostles began to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen. In other words, the “mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11) are summed up in redemption, which begins with faith. Indeed, the first work of the Holy Spirit in us is the faith with which we profess: “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor 12:3). This faith lives and is expressed in every good deed, in every act of mercy and virtue. The work of God, therefore, is each one of us, who came here today from all parts of the world, invited to the Lord’s table, gathered to listen to his word and called to bear witness to it everywhere.

Dear friends, we are truly co-workers of the Gospel: the whole Church is its protagonist, not merely its guardian. Through the power of the Spirit, our proclamation is filled with joy and hope, for we — yes, we ourselves — are the newness of the world, the light and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13–14). Certainly not because of our own merit or privilege, but because of the word of the Lord, who sanctifies the sinner, heals the leper and transforms the one who denied him into an apostle. As we can clearly see, there are changes that do not bring new life to the world, but make it grow old through error and violence. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit enlightens minds and instils new vitality in our hearts. This is how he transfigures history, opening it to salvation, which is the gift that the Lord offers to everyone. The Church’s mission bears witness to this offer, thereby transforming the world’s confusion into communion with God and among ourselves.

This mission begins by proclaiming the truth about God and man, for the Spirit of the risen One is the “Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:17), whom the Lord himself promised us, asking for the unity of his Church — a unity founded on the love of God, the source of our love. The Spirit, who has spoken through the prophets, always promotes unity in truth, for he imbues in us understanding, harmony and coherency of life. As Saint Augustine teaches, “the Holy Spirit willed that this should be the sign of his presence” (Discourse 269, 1): The gift of tongues that are understood within the one faith. The Paraclete protects us from everything that hinders this understanding, including partisanship, hypocrisy and fads that obscure the light of the Gospel. The truth that God gives us thus stands as a liberating word for all peoples, a message that transforms every culture from within.

Indeed, the Spirit of the risen One is not poured out once and for all, but constantly. Just as the Eucharist is the living presence of Christ, who nourishes us unceasingly, so too does the Holy Spirit imprint his character upon us in Baptism, which makes us Christians; in Confirmation, which establishes us as witnesses; and in Holy Orders, which constitutes ministers and shepherds for God’s people. In every sacrament, he is the dator munerum, the source of holiness who multiplies gifts and charisms through prayer, works of mercy and the study of the word of God. As the Apostle teaches: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). It is precisely for this reason that we are the Church, the one body that lives in God and serves the world. Thanks to the Spirit, we can bring true peace to all, the truth that saves — the same Christ our Lord.

Dear friends, with fervent hearts, let us pray today that the Spirit of the risen One may save us from the evil of war, which is overcome not by a superpower, but by the omnipotence of love. Let us pray that he free humanity from misery, which is redeemed not by immeasurable wealth, but by an inexhaustible gift. Let us pray that he heal us from the scourge of sin through the salvation proclaimed to all peoples in the name of Jesus. This is the grace that instills courage in the Apostles; may he similarly instill it in us, today and always, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Pelayan Atasan Tertinggi / Most High Servant,
Yesus, Maria, Yusuf Pelayanan Kasih / Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)

My vocation is Blessed and Saints.

"I am the most humble of all the Saints in Heaven" Mary, Mother of God."

"I am the handmaid of the Lord, said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me."

Mother Mary is the most humble Saint in Heaven and she is also the Mother of God for us all
(Luke 1:38)