Weekdays of Easter

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we celebrate this most joyful occasion of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, we recall the fullness of joy and great celebrations that we have done in the past glorious and most joyful fifty days of Easter since that of Easter Vigil. Pentecost celebrates the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit from God upon His Church, to all the disciples and followers of Christ. On that day, the Lord fulfilled His promises to His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit, Whom He called as the Helper or the Advocate, to lead and guide the path of the Church and all the faithful, strengthening them in their journey of faith, empowering them to be courageous and to be able to persevere despite the trials and challenges that they may have to face.

This important day and celebration is a reminder for all of us that through the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit to all of us, we have received once again the grace of God that had been separated from us due to our sins and wickedness, and through the Holy Spirit, God had shown that He is always ever present with His Church and faithful ones, having guided us all throughout these past two millennia of history, from the very beginning of the Church and up to this very day, through all the challenges and trials facing the Church and all the Christian faithful. The Holy Spirit had guided the Church fathers and leaders in walking down the path of the Lord, that while at times the Church and many among the faithful had fallen into the wrong paths, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, eventually the Church is moving ahead again in the right path.

Many people often wrongly associate Pentecost with the so-called ‘Birthday of the Church’ and it does not help that in some places, popular practices related to this birthday celebration of the Church are commonplace. The Church according to the Church fathers and Apostolic tradition, as written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was ‘born’ and established from the side of the Lord, from the outpouring of the Blood and water that came from the Lord’s Body, lay broken and crushed on Good Friday, at the end of His Passion, His suffering and death. Through His earlier institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, and through His completion of the perfect offering and sacrifice of the New and Eternal Passover, the New and Eternal Covenant, Christ has formed the Church that is His Body, uniting all of the believers with Himself.

What the Pentecost is more accurately associated with is the moment when the Church is ‘revealed’ to the world, with an analogy and comparison similar to that of Christmas and Epiphany. While Christmas marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour was born into this world, it is at Epiphany that He is revealed and manifested to the whole world through the representation of the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men. Thus, the Church that is born on Good Friday and the Paschal Triduum, was also revealed to the whole world at the moment of the Pentecost, at the time when there was a very major shift in the attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, who began to actively proclaim the Word of God and His Good News to everyone when previously they had been hiding in fear.

This was what we have heard in our first reading today, detailing to us what happened on the day of the first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon all the Apostles and disciples who were hiding in fear from the Jewish authorities who had threatened everyone that taught in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and who had put in place efforts to silence the disciples of the Lord. They were fearful because the Lord was no longer physically with them, having ascended into Heaven just ten days earlier, but with the arrival and descent of the Holy Spirit, and as they were inflamed and strengthened by the fire of the Holy Spirit, their hearts were encouraged and they received the strength, the wisdom and the power to go forth and to proclaim the Good News of God with great fervour and courage as we have heard.

And through their efforts, many people who were then gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival of Pentecost, coming from the different regions and countries of the world, many of whom were Jews who were living in the diaspora, came to hear of the Lord Jesus, as many of them might not have heard or known about Him before. Those people came to be touched by the message of God’s truth and His Good News that the Apostles told them in their various languages, the gift which the Holy Spirit had brought to them, and about three thousand people accepted the Lord on that day, becoming the earliest members of the Church of God together with those Apostles and disciples of the Lord. The rapid growth of the Church from that day of Pentecost and the changing attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, empowered by the Holy Spirit made the Church no longer hidden but instead revealed to the whole world, which is what Pentecost is all about.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle, either to the Church in Corinth or Galatia, of the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit which God had imparted to all of us who have received this most wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of the Church. The Holy Spirit has many gifts, and these, traditionally seven, are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, all of which are the things which God had bestowed on us all through His Spirit, alongside with various blessings, talents and abilities that allow us to carry out whatever it is that He had entrusted to us all to do with our lives. Each and every one of us have been given and equipped with these various gifts and opportunities so that we may truly live our lives worthily and in accordance to what the Lord has shown and taught us, so that by our exemplary lives, we may indeed be good role models and inspirations for others to follow, and that we may lead others to God’s truth and salvation.

Meanwhile, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, all of which are manifestations of the works and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which God had granted to us. All of us are called and expected to do what God had called us to do, and to make good use of the gifts and the opportunities that have been revealed and passed to us all. Like the parable of the talents that the Lord had used in teaching His disciples, all of us as God’s stewards, disciples and servants are expected to make good use of the various things and blessings which God had given to us, so that we may indeed bear rich fruits of the Holy Spirit in our various communities, and be the exemplary role models and the shining beacons of God’s light and truth in our world today.

Lastly, in our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples, reminding them of what they were supposed to do as His disciples and followers. This gift of the Holy Spirit which the Lord had mentioned and explained on several occasions would eventually came to the fullness and completion with the coming of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, the Church of God, giving them the guidance, strength and the peace in their hearts and minds to carry out to the best of their abilities everything which God had entrusted to them to do. Through the Holy Spirit, God had sent forth His disciples and followers to carry out the most important mission which He entrusted to them, His Great Commission, that is to proclaim His Good News and truth, His salvation and love to all the nations, and to make disciples of every people of every nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

As we all reflect upon the messages of God’s truth and love as contained within the Sacred Scriptures and what we have discussed regarding the Holy Spirit and how God has empowered us all with the strength and the new life and opportunities to do His will through the Holy Spirit, let us all therefore allow Him to guide us all and turn away from all sorts of wickedness and evils that had caused us to not be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. As one united Church of God, revealed to all on this great Solemnity of Pentecost, let us all continue to carry on the missions entrusted to us, to be ever full of the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide us in our respective vocations and missions in life, that through us and our faithful living and testimony, our every actions and deeds, we may always be fruitful in all things.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of all the faithful and strengthen us with the warmth of God’s most wonderful love. Come and renew the whole world and all of us mankind, and enkindle in us the great passionate fires of Your love. Come Holy Spirit, come and be with us all, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. Amen.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 20 : 19-23

At that time, on the evening of the day when Jesus rose from the dead, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews. But Jesus came, and stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” Then He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy.

Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” After saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

Alternative reading

John 15 : 26-27 and John 16 : 12-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “From the Father, I will send you the Spirit of truth. When this Helper has come from the Father, He will be My witness, and you, too, will be My witnesses, for you have been with Me from the beginning. I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth.”

“For He will not speak of His own authority, but will speak what He hears, and He will tell you about the things which are to come. He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason, I told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Corinthians 12 : 3b-7, 12-13

No one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

The Spirit reveals His presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

Alternative reading

Galatians 5 : 16-25

Therefore, I say to you : walk according to the Spirit and do not give way to the desires of the flesh! For the desires of the flesh war against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh. Both are in conflict with each other, so that you cannot do everything you would like. But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law.

You know what comes from the flesh : fornication, impurity and shamelessness, idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said : those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no law or punishment. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; How varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples of Jesus were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening as we all gather together on this Great Vigil of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday at the very end of the glorious season of Easter, we recall the fullness of joy and great celebrations that we have done in the past glorious and most joyful fifty days of Easter since that of Easter Vigil. This celebration of the Pentecost Vigil is truly ancient and has a lot of parallel and similarities to that of Easter Vigil which marks the beginning of the Easter season, as historically, Pentecost ranks as one of the greatest Feasts and Solemnities of the Church in its whole entire liturgical year, second only after Easter itself. While Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday itself marks the commemoration of the glorious and triumphant victory that the Risen Christ, Our Lord had won over evil, sin and death through His Resurrection, Pentecost celebrates the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit from God upon His Church, to all the disciples and followers of Christ.

This celebration of the Vigil of the Pentecost Sunday or Pentecost Vigil is truly steeped in history and tradition, as just like that of Easter Vigil, there are multiple Old Testament readings that are to be read, historically seven just like that of the Easter Vigil. While the readings of the Easter Vigil focused on the history of salvation and how God had finally fulfilled and accomplished everything that He had promised to His people through His prophets, sending His Saviour into this world, the readings of the Pentecost Vigil that we have heard today in their various forms and richness highlighted the role that the Holy Spirit played in the Church, in our lives as Christians and how God had guided us all through the same Holy Spirit. Not only that but just like Easter Vigil when usually the catechumens are baptised and received into the Church, during this Pentecost Vigil, traditionally may also involve initiation of catechumens into the Church.

This important day and celebration is a reminder for all of us that through the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit to all of us, we have received once again the grace of God that had been separated from us due to our sins and wickedness, and through the Holy Spirit, God had shown that He is always ever present with His Church and faithful ones, having guided us all throughout these past two millennia of history, from the very beginning of the Church and up to this very day, through all the challenges and trials facing the Church and all the Christian faithful. The Holy Spirit had guided the Church fathers and leaders in walking down the path of the Lord, that while at times the Church and many among the faithful had fallen into the wrong paths, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, eventually the Church is moving ahead again in the right path.

Many people often wrongly associate Pentecost with the so-called ‘Birthday of the Church’ and it does not help that in some places, popular practices related to this birthday celebration of the Church are commonplace. The Church according to the Church fathers and Apostolic tradition, as written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was ‘born’ and established from the side of the Lord, from the outpouring of the Blood and water that came from the Lord’s Body, lay broken and crushed on Good Friday, at the end of His Passion, His suffering and death. Through His earlier institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, and through His completion of the perfect offering and sacrifice of the New and Eternal Passover, the New and Eternal Covenant, Christ has formed the Church that is His Body, uniting all of the believers with Himself.

What the Pentecost is more accurately associated with is the moment when the Church is ‘revealed’ to the world, with an analogy and comparison similar to that of Christmas and Epiphany. While Christmas marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour was born into this world, it is at Epiphany that He is revealed and manifested to the whole world through the representation of the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men. Thus, the Church that is born on Good Friday and the Paschal Triduum, was also revealed to the whole world at the moment of the Pentecost, at the time when there was a very major shift in the attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, who began to actively proclaim the Word of God and His Good News to everyone when previously they had been hiding in fear.

In our Scripture readings this Pentecost Vigil, from the Book of Genesis we heard of the story of the Tower of Babel and how mankind in their hubris and pride tried to build a tower that was so high that it could reach up to Heaven itself, or so they thought. God saw all their wicked plans and ambitions, their pride and evils and confused their languages and speeches. Prior to this moment, everyone was able to understand each other languages and speeches, but after the rebellion of the Tower of Babel, mankind was scattered all over the world, unable to comprehend one another. This was because of the withdrawal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which was contrasted with the gift of tongues which the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord received on the day of Pentecost, when they speak in tongues and everyone were able to comprehend what the disciples of the Lord were speaking about.

Meanwhile, from another reading from the Old Testament, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when the Lord made His Covenant with His people, the Israelites, at the holy Mountain of God at Sinai. We heard how at that place Moses, who lead the people of Israel gathered all the elders and all the people, and told them of what the Lord wanted to make with them, to establish a Covenant with them anew just as He had done with their ancestors. It was at that moment which the Lord made known His Presence through loud sounds and fire, just as what happened on the day of Pentecost, when the tongues of flames of the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord’s disciples hidden in the upper room, together with the loud sound just like that at Mount Sinai.

Not only that, but it was during this moment at Mount Sinai when the Israelites themselves also rebelled against God, by making a golden calf idol and worshipping it, which resulted in them being punished, with three thousand people being condemned and killed for their rebellion. This is contrasted to what we heard from the account of the events of the Pentecost, as the works of the Lord’s disciples proclaiming God’s Good News and salvation touched the hearts and minds of so many people that three thousand people chose to be baptised and become part of the Church of God, as a clear parallel and antithesis of what happened back at Mount Sinai, again just like the Tower of Babel story, showing how the Lord through His Holy Spirit had restored to the world and to us mankind the order and sanctity that had been lost through our rebellion against God and sin.

In another Old Testament reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we then heard of the story of the valley filled with vast number of dry bones, which represented the rebellion of mankind and their sins, particularly the Israelites, whom by the time of the prophet Ezekiel had committed a great number of sins and mistakes, and had suffered the consequences of those sins and faults. Sin lead to destruction and death, and that was what the vision of the valley of dry bones showed to the prophet Ezekiel and all of us. But through the Spirit of God, referring to the Holy Spirit, which in the Nicene Creed we refer to as the Lord, the Giver of Life, proceeding from the Father and Son to us all, just as at the moment of Creation, when God created all things from nothingness, God restored life to all those dry bones and Ezekiel saw a huge nation of all the peoples assembled, referring to the restoration of God’s people into the state of grace before their downfall into sin.

And this is what the Holy Spirit has done to us, as we recall this great gift from God, the gift of the Holy Spirit that He has given to His Church, to fill us all with His love and wisdom, to restore unto us the life, grace and unity with God which we have lost through our rebelliousness and sins. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome in our second reading passage today spoke about the Holy Spirit that we have received, which gave us a foretaste of things that is to come. This means that through the gift of the Holy Spirit, all of us have received the gift of new life and existence which happened and is possible because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, guiding and strengthening us in each and every moments of our existence.

The Holy Spirit has shown us the path towards the Lord, and as the Lord Jesus Himself made it clear to us through our Gospel passage today, that the Presence of the Holy Spirit in us is like that of a life-giving water and spring welling up in us, filling us with God’s grace and love, empowering and strengthening us in the manner how the Lord’s disciples and followers have been guided and strengthened by the same Holy Spirit throughout all the things that they had done, in proclaiming the Lord’s Good News and salvation to the people of all the nations. They have joyfully borne the responsibilities and the commitments to be the bearers of God’s truth, and by the wisdom imparted to them through the Spirit of God, they therefore bore rich fruits of the Holy Spirit and resulted in many great conversions and many souls embracing God’s saving grace.

As we all reflect upon the messages of God’s truth and love as contained within the Sacred Scriptures and what we have discussed regarding the Holy Spirit and how God has empowered us all with the strength and the new life and opportunities to do His will through the Holy Spirit, let us all therefore allow Him to guide us all and turn away from all sorts of wickedness and evils that had caused us to not be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. As one united Church of God, revealed to all on this great Solemnity of Pentecost, let us all continue to carry on the missions entrusted to us, to be ever full of the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide us in our respective vocations and missions in life, that through us and our faithful living and testimony, our every actions and deeds, we may always be fruitful in all things.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of all the faithful and strengthen us with the warmth of God’s most wonderful love. Come and renew the whole world and all of us mankind, and enkindle in us the great passionate fires of Your love. Come Holy Spirit, come and be with us all, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. Amen.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 7 : 37-39

At that time, on the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me; and let the one who believes in Me drink, for the Scripture says : Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

Jesus was referring to the Spirit, which those who believe in Him were to receive; the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Romans 8 : 22-27

We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth. Not creation alone, but even ourselves, although the Spirit was given to us as a foretaste of what we are to receive, we groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will give us full rights and rescue our bodies as well.

In hope we already have salvation. But if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope; how can you hope for what is already seen? So we hope for what we do not see and we will receive it through patient hope. We are weak, but the Spirit comes to help us. How to ask? And what shall we ask for?

We do not know, but the Spirit intercedes for us without words, as if with groans. And He Who sees inner secrets knows the desires of the Spirit, for He asks for the holy ones what is pleasing to God.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1-2a, 24 and 35c, 27-28, 29bc-30

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; o Lord, my God, how great You are! You are wrapped in light as with a garment.

How varied o Lord, are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all – the earth full of Your creatures. Bless the Lord, my soul!

They all look to You for their food in due time. You give it to them, and they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

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Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Genesis 11 : 1-9

The whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved from east, they found a plain in the country of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in fire.” They used brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. They said also, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven; so that we may become a great people and not be scattered over the face of the earth!”

YHVH came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man were building, and YHVH said, “They are one people and they have one language. If they carry this through, nothing they decide to do from now on will be impossible. Come! Let Us go down and confuse their language so that they will no longer understand each other.”

So YHVH scattered them over all the earth and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there YHVH confused the language of the whole earth and from there YHVH scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

Alternative reading

Exodus 19 : 3-8a, 16-20b

The Israelites camped there in front of the mountain, but Moses went up to God and YHVH called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say and to explain to the Israelites : You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself.”

“Now if you listen to Me and keep My covenant, you shall be My very own possession among all the nations. For all the earth is Mine, but you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” And He added, “This is what you are to say to the people of Israel.”

So Moses went and summoned all the elders of the people and related to them all that YHVH had commanded him to say. All the people responded with one voice, “All that YHVH has said, we will do.”

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because YHVH had come down in fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently, while the blast of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke and God replied in thunder. When YHVH had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses who went to the summit.

Alternative reading

Ezekiel 37 : 1-14

The hand of YHVH was upon me. He brought me out and led me in spirit to the middle of the valley which was full of bones. He made me walk to and fro among them and I could see there was a great number of them on the ground all along the valley and that they were very dry.

YHVH said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord YHVH, only You know that.” He then said, “Speak on My behalf concerning these bones; say to them : Dry bones, hear the word of YHVH! YHVH says : I am going to put spirit in you and make you live. I shall put sinews on you and make flesh grow on you; I shall cover you with skin and give you My Spirit, that you may live. And you will know that I am YHVH.”

“I prophesied as I had been commanded and then there was a noise and commotion; the bones joined together. I looked and saw that they had sinews, that flesh was growing on them and that He was covering them with skin. But there was no spirit in them.”

So YHVH said to me, “Speak on My behalf and call on the Spirit, son of man! Say to the Spirit : This is the word of YHVH : Spirit, come from the four winds. Breathe into these dead bones and let them live!” I prophesied as He had commanded me and breath entered them; they came alive, standing on their feet – a great, immense army!

He then said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all Israel. They keep saying : ‘Our bones are dry, hope has gone, it is the end of us.’ So prophesy! Say to them : This is what YHVH says : I am going to open your tombs, I shall bring you out of your tombs, My people, and lead you back to the land of Israel.”

“You will know that I am YHVH, o My people! When I open your graves and bring you out of your graves, when I put My Spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, YHVH, have done what I said I would do.”

Alternative reading

Joel 3 : 1-5

In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on every mortal. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even upon My servants and maidens, I will pour out My Spirit on that day.

I will show wonders in the heavens, and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will darken and the moon turn to blood, at the approach of the great and dreadful day of God.

Then all who call upon the Name of YHVH will be saved. For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant, as YHVH has said; in Jerusalem some will be saved – those whom YHVH will call.