Today, the seventh Sunday of Easter, lies between the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost. Last Thursday, on the Ascension, we celebrated Christ being taken up into heaven, having spent forty days with his disciples after the Resurrection. When Jesus ascended, he commissioned the apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), but insisted that they wait in Jerusalem until being “clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49). They were to be witnesses, like Christ himself, to the power and love of God, but would need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to succeed. Next Sunday, on Pentecost, we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. The descent of the Spirit completed the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension as it impelled to apostles to bring the good news of salvation to all the nations. We commemorate Pentecost even after two thousand years, not simply in gratitude to the apostles, but because we ourselves are called to witness to the power and love of God. The Gospel must be proclaimed in every age, so it can transformation into the image of Christ the people of every age. The apostles, waiting in Jerusalem for the Spirit, had “devoted themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14). Since the Gospel proclamation requires still in our day God’s divine assistance, we too should approach Pentecost with prayers for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that we, like the apostles, will be divinely empowered for mission.