Bomana, Port Moresby: Over a hundred Catholic faithful joined the Priests, Brothers and Seminarians of the Holy Spirit Seminary to celebrate the Solemnity of the Pentecost and their Feast Day on 5th June 2022 at the Catholic Theological Institute Bomana.
Celebrating Mass was the Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, His Excellency, Archbishop Fermin Emilio Sosa Rodriguez. Concelebrating with him were seven other priests including the Rector of the Holy Spirit Seminary, Fr. Jacek Tendej CM.
In his homily the Nuncio encouraged each one to be open to the Spirit, adding that one could only find the peace to be sent where God sends if he was close to the Spirit.
“We all have a mission to fulfill on this earth but many times we are scared. If we have the Spirit within us, if we have Jesus within us, there will be no fear and confusion when God asks us of His will, for the Spirit is God’s gift of peace and guidance to us”, he said.
Dwelling on the first reading – Acts 2:1-11 he said, in the time of the Babylonians, God had made them speak in different languages to divide them. For the apostles too had been speaking in tongues as soon as the Spirit came upon them, but unlike the Babylonians, they were united. He stressed that the work of the Spirit was to unite. Like the apostles, if the Spirit was present in our families, societies and country, there would be no division.
“In the Gospel, you will find that Jesus greeted His disciples by saying Peace be with you, and that means that only in Jesus can we have the Spirit to fill our hearts with peace to do what we are truly called for,” he added.
He continued that not only was it the Feast of the Seminary but for all Christians and encouraged the priests, brothers, and seminarians of the Holy Spirit Seminary to continue to persevere in their journey of consecrated life and that no matter how hard it seemed, the Holy Spirit would always be their helper just as Jesus had promised before going to Heaven.
After the Holy Eucharist, all were asked to join the celebrations that included speeches, item presentations of singing, dancing, and drama and a feast of delicious food shared by all who were present.
Fr. Jacek welcomed and thanked all who were present and encouraged them to always seek the Spirit through constant prayer which united us with Christ. “May the joy of the Spirit be with us as we continue to share his love through our mission.”
Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day from Easter Sunday, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the frightened Apostles gathered in the cenacle together with the Blessed Mother. Filled with the Spirit, they went out to proclaim the ‘Good News’ to all nations.
Amongst those in attendance were representatives from the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNGSI, the President of CTI, Fr. Martin Wallace OP and his staff, the different CTI Houses, priests and religious from other congregations together with laity from as far as the Diocese of Bereina, the UPNG Catholic Students Association and different media organizations.