Finally, we arrived at the fiftieth day of Easter—Għid il-Ħamsin in Maltese, which literally means ‘the feast of the fifty days. “But is it really fifty?” you might ask. For, if you count the days and weeks of Eastertide—seven times seven—you arrive at forty-nine. But, if you begin from Easter Sunday, today is the fiftieth day, as the Greek word Pentecost (Πεντηκοστή) itself means.
This is a feast also celebrated by the Jews fifty days after their Passover—known as שָׁבוּעוֹת (šāvūʿōṯ), meaning “weeks”—when they commemorate their arrival at Sinai, the mountain where God gave the Holy Law to Moses after freeing them from slavery in Egypt. It was also a thanksgiving celebration at the end of the spring harvest, one of the three pilgrim feasts for which Jews would go up to the Temple. Indeed, in the account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that there were in Jerusalem “devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5).
On this fiftieth day, the Church commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Twelve and the disciples gathered together, awaiting the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise. Those in Jerusalem thought they were drunk—as if they had come from a village feast. But after hearing Peter, they too desired to be “intoxicated”: intoxicated with the joy of salvation accomplished through Jesus, a joy offered to all through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The fifty days have passed, but the story does not end here. That day marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of God’s people. And may it be so for you as well—that Pentecost is not an ending, but that you continue to write, and allow to be written through you, the story of God’s love for humanity.