Pentecost (a Greek word meaning “50”) is the name for the Feast of Weeks, a festival 50 days after Passover in which Israel celebrated the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. It was on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, that God’s Spirit descended upon the followers of Jesus, giving birth to the Church.
The liturgical colour is red, symbolizing joy, as well as the fire of the Holy Spirit that appeared over each of the disciples.
At Pentecost, Christians remember that God’s purifying Law and holy presence (symbolized by fire) now dwells within the Church through the Spirit (see Exodus 3:2, 13:21-22, 24:17; Isaiah 10:17; Malachi 3:2). Pentecost is a time in which God’s Spirit illuminates and inspires the Church to be a community of people that offers a foretaste to the world of what God’s coming new creation—heaven made visible on earth—looks like (see Revelation 21-22).