Pentecost The Red-Hot Celebration

Peter Fournier and Catherine Fournier

Page 40 in "Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church"

After Christ ascended to His Father (on what we celebrate as Ascension Day), He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide His Apostles. This day, on which we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit, is called Pentecost.

"Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church"
at the
Catholic Company store.

The festival taking place at the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit was the Old Testament Feast of Weeks, the celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. This festival was held seven weeks after Passover. You can read about the Feast of Weeks in Deuteronomy 16:9-12 and about Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2. On the first Pentecost feast of the New Covenant, seven weeks after Easter, the Church received the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. (See CCC 659, 731-32, 857.)

The intense love and fire of the Holy Spirit are represented in the use of red as the liturgical color for Pentecost Sunday. As a consequence, fiery hot food, food cooked over flames, and red food seem appropriate for a Pentecost feast!

Here is a red-hot salad you can include in your meal:

Recipe: Red-Hot Jello

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water
2/3 cup cinnamon candies
2, 3-ounce packages red gelatin mix
2 cups applesauce

Directions

Add candies to boiling water, and stir until dissolved.
Add gelatin mix, and stir until dissolved.
Add applesauce to gelatin mixture, and pour into mold or serving dish(es).
Chill for several hours until firm.

Recipe: Twelve-Fruit Salad

The twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity (see CCC 1830-32). Have a twelve-fruit salad and Holy Spirit cookies for Pentecost dinner!

Ingredients

1 3-ounce package red gelatin mix, prepared
1 container whipped topping
12 different fruits

Fruits to consider: grapes, oranges, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples, kiwi, canned pineapple, pears, cherries, tangerines, apricots.

Directions

Allow the gelatin to set partially, just to the consistency of soft pudding.
Stir the gelatin into the whipped topping thoroughly.
Wash fruit and slice into bite-sized pieces; fold into flavored whipped topping.
Chill for several hours and serve.

Recipe: Holy Spirit Cookies

Finish your dinner or picnic with some sweet treats. Using sliceand-bake sugar cookies or your own homemade cookies, decorate them with red toppings and symbols of the Holy Spirit.

Give the older children the task of making little circular templates out of stiff paper. Cut out the shapes of a flame, cross, beam of light, and descending dove from the center of each template. (See CCC 696, 701.) Frost cookies with prepared or homemade white frosting. Lay the templates on top and moisten frosting slightly, then sprinkle red sugar liberally over stencil. Carefully brush sugar off the stencil and lift it off the cookie.

Now go forth and make disciples of all nations!