PENTECOST IN THE LIGHT OF SHAVUOT
If Catholics knew more about Judaism—its culture, feasts, and rituals—we would understand Jesus of the Gospels far more deeply, as He was born and died a Jew. The feast of Pentecost, which we have just celebrated, serves as a striking example. Pentecost was already one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar: the feast of Shavuot—which the Greek of the New Testament rendered as Pentecost, just meaning “fifty days later.”
The festival of Shavuot is one of the three major Jewish feasts, alongside Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), during which pilgrims journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem. This helps us understand why so many people from different regions of Israel and the Jewish diaspora could “hear” and comprehend the disciples who had just received the Spirit: "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia; people from Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya bordering Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty works of God!" (Acts 2:9-11).
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