| Pentecost Pentecost is 50 days after the Resurrection and marks the birth of the Church. At Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the company of believers through the dramatic experience of the tongues of fire and the believers’ speaking in tongues. The dove portrays again the Holy Spirit, and the seven tongues of flame are the unique expression of this outpouring at Pentecost. The symbol of fire at the birth of the Church reminds us of Jesus’ saying, “I came to cast fire upon the Earth; and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49) |