Shifting History: A Small Group Night on Pentecost
Dear Parents and Family,
Tonight, your son or daughter learned about the magnitude of what happened at the first Pentecost and why it is important for their lives today. The small group time began with a game where the youth had to come up with a new history-shifting invention. The teaching broke open what happened at the first Pentecost and how it was a fulfillment of all of Jesus’ promises to send a counselor to be with us forever, and how the world and our lives were transformed by this event. The small group time ended with the Come, Holy Spirit prayer.
Your child’s challenge for this week is to share Jesus’ love with one person.
Main Ideas
- Many times in His ministry, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. After His Ascension into heaven, on the day of Pentecost, He poured out the Holy Spirit upon His apostles.
- Pentecost began the new age of the Church, and the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the love of Jesus.
- We are a part of this new age of the Church through our baptism and confirmation, and we also experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that empowers us to bring about new life.
Catechism Reference
“On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of His fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.” (CCC 731)
Scripture Reference
“And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:3-4)
Family Reflection Questions
- How did Pentecost shift history?
- How do we see the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles?
- Why is Pentecost still important for our lives today?