The Day of Pentecost is one of the seven great feast days of the Church Year. On that day, 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’s followers in great power and the Church came into existence. We recall also that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus immediately after his baptism in the River Jordan. There are obvious similarities between these great Christian remembrances. Christians believe also there is a similarity between these two acts of God, and his gift of the Holy Spirit at our Baptism. Sometimes, it may be hard to see the similarity between our life and the life of Jesus, or the lives of his disciples…and rightly so. If this gives us pause, we need to ask ourselves two questions: 1) have I even opened up this gift? and 2) have I personally ventured forth into the mystery and reality of God? Jesus obviously responded with great abandon as did his followers on Pentecost. They responded with purpose, enthusiasm, exuberance and a degree of recklessness. After 2000 years, their response is still remembered and is the model for us.