My friends, we just celebrated Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus!  In the last lesson, we were reminded that Jesus died, but didn’t stay dead for long!  He rose from the dead on the third day, Easter.
 
He told his followers that he was going to go back to heaven to be with God the Father.  But when he was gone, Jesus wanted to make sure that his followers did not forget who he was and everything he had told them.  Jesus had a big job he was going to need them to do- he wanted his Apostles to tell other people about God’s love for them!

God was going to send his Holy Spirit to be their helper and their teacher.  They would not be alone!  Jesus told his apostles to stay in Jerusalem and pray until the Holy Spirit came to them.  So that is what they did. 

The apostles stayed in the place called the “Upper Room” for 10 days, praying with Mary, Jesus’ mother. Then, on the 10th day, something AMAZING happened!  The bible tells us that all of a sudden, there came from the sky a sound like a very strong wind, and it filled the whole house that they were in! Then, they could see something that looked like flames of fire that came upon them!  The Holy Spirit had come! 

Remember, when we do The Sign of the Cross, we say “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? The Holy Spirit is God, like Jesus is God and the Father is God!  Three in One!   God the Holy Spirit was with them!

The Holy Spirit filled them all, and as soon as that happened, they all started to talk in many different languages!  They went outside and started talking to everybody about Jesus.  They told people about God’s love, and the lessons Jesus had taught them – how he died for their sins, how he wanted everyone to receive him in holy communion, and more!

You see, when Jesus was still with the disciples and teaching them, they did not have the Holy Spirit yet , so there was a lot of things they did not understand – But now that they had the Holy Spirit, everything made sense!  They were not afraid anymore!

This is what the Holy Spirit would help them to do:

1.  He would help them remember the things that Jesus had said and done.

2. He would help them to love other people, so that everyone would know Jesus’ love too!

3. The Holy Spirit would help the disciples to be brave and patient in telling other people about Jesus! 

4. The Holy Spirit would teach them everything that they needed to know!

 
Think about a time that you were trying very hard to learn how to do something new. Maybe it was trying to read, or ride a bike, or learn a new game, or maybe you learned how  to swim or whistle!  Do you remember how it felt when you finally learned how to do it? 

Maybe you were very excited, or maybe you kept doing it over and over again so you would get better and better at it. 
 Maybe you wanted to tell everyone and show everyone how you could do it!

Well, this is probably how the Apostles felt!  After the Holy Spirit came down and filled them, all those things that they did not understand before, now they understood!  They understood about God’s love, taking care of others, the Mass, how Jesus had to die so sins could be forgiven, confession, the priesthood…They started teaching everyone!

Many became followers of Jesus and wanted to be baptized. The church began to grow! 

The Church remembers this AMAZING day every year!  We call it the Feast of Pentecost, and it is celebrated 50 days after Easter. 

Why is all of this important, my friends?  Well, the Holy Spirit is God with us today too! We are the disciples of today!  We become part of God’s family when we are baptized, and when we receive Confirmation, the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and stirs up his gifts in us so that we have everything we need to tell others about God’s love. We learn more about God, and grow in faith and love, just like the disciples in the early church.  We are the church! 

Take a few minutes to think about what it is that you know about Jesus. 
If someone who does not know Jesus came to your house today, what is one thing that you would like to tell them about Jesus?

Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful,
And enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
    V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
    R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
 

The Church celebrates the Feast of St Catherine of Siena on April 29th. 

Catherine was born in the year 1347 in the city of Siena in Italy.  She came from a very big family.  Catherine was number 23 of 25 kids in her family! 

She loved Jesus very much when she was little, and when she was 6 or 7 years old, she said that she had seen Jesus. 
She found it very noisy at home, so she was always looking for a quiet place where she could pray and spend time with Jesus.  When her parents saw how serious she was about giving her life to Jesus, they gave her a little room in the basement where she could go be alone and pray. 
When she was a little bit older, she decided that she wanted to become a nun.  She was still too young for that, but she did start to live a life of prayer and helping other people close to her home.   
 
But Catherine was not happy with just praying.  She wanted to do something to help the poor and the sick in her community.  During the time that Catherine was born, there was a terrible disease that was spreading all over Europe, and many people died.  Catherine had not gotten sick, and when she was around 24 and many got sick from that disease again, she helped take care of them.

Catherine wanted very much to see the problems that were going on in the church to be fixed.  She spent a lot of time writing about the things she learned about Jesus, and God the Father.  So many people learned from her, and the things she taught were so special that she was named a Doctor of the Church. There are only 31 people in the world who have ever had this title, and only one other woman!  That makes Catherine of Siena very special! 

 St Catherine is the patron saint of Europe and Italy.

St Catherine, pray for us, and for all those who are sick in the world today!