Papar youth celebrate birthday of the Church

PAPAR – The youth of St Joseph Papar celebrated Pentecost Sunday during their 25th Monthly Youth Gathering on 15 May 2016. Sr Julianah Saliun delivered a talk explaining why Catholics celebrate Pentecost.

In her talk, Sr Saliun said for Catholics, Pentecost is like a holiday in which we honour the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early followers of Jesus. Before the first Pentecost, which came a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were followers of Jesus, but no movement that could be meaningfully called “the Church.”   Thus, from a historical point of view, Pentecost was the day when the Church started.

From a spiritual perspective, the Spirit brought the church into existence and enliven it. Thus Pentecost was the church’s birthday. The English word “Pentecost” is a transliteration of the Greek word pentekostos, which means “fifty.” It comes from the ancient Christian expression pentekoste hemera, which means “fiftieth day.”

After her talk, she handed a bookmark to each youth that contained two words representing the Holy Spirit. The youths shared their insights according to the text on the bookmark.

Besides the talk as the highlight, there were also some games, birthday celebration and fellowship. – Lester Randy Rubintinus, TPBP Coordinator St Joseph Papar