At the Last Supper, Jesus promised to send the Spirit of Truth, which would stay with the apostles and the Church forever. “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”[i] We can receive the power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Christ and to testify before the world about the mystery of Salvation.
 
What does it mean to be a witness? Witness comes from the Greek word martyros, this is where we get the word martyr. To be a witness literally means that we are a martyr for truth. We are willing to not only die for truth, but also live it out in our life. Saint Justin Martyr proclaimed the creed of every Christian when he was martyred. At Saint Justin’s trial, Rusticus the prefect said, "Let us, then, now come to the matter at hand, and which presses. Having come together, offer sacrifice with one accord to the gods." Saint Justin replied, "No right-thinking person falls away from piety to impiety."[ii] This has been also been translated as “No right-thinking person falls away from truth to falsehood.” We should move from what is false into what is truth, but never abandon the truth, which the Holy Spirit guides us to, for the errors of falsehood. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us to stay truth to our baptismal vows, “Do you reject all his [Satan’s] empty promises.”[iii]
 
What does the power of the Holy Spirit look like in real life? The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the Father (Source) and the Son (Mediator), is the only true source of real power.  In the Creed we say that the Holy Spirit is the “giver of life”.
 
What promises power in our world today, what do the powerful people have? How do we distinguish the power of the world, from the power of the Holy Spirit, is there a difference? (See also Link to Liturgy lesson: Receive the Power[iv]) “But what is this “power” of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin May, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.”[v]
 
Activity - Power of Pentecost
This is a great activity to see the true power of the Church and how the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church. The question above is asking about power. Have your group mention or write down as many powerful countries (US, England, Russia, Rome, Greece, etc.), corporations (i.e. Apple, Windows, Facebook, Planned Parenthood, etc.), sports teams (Cowboys, Yankees, Celtics, etc.), people (Hitler, Napoleon, etc.), and inventions (iPod, Computers, phones, TV, etc.). Once there is several mentioned or written down ask them how powerful they really are. Also ask, where will these companies, people, things, etc. be in 2,000 years? Go to the “document” section on the packet page and chose the Power of Pentecost Activity Sheet. The activity sheet can be updated as well with more contemporary examples. What companies and products have come out only in the last five years? How do those companies and products promote power and life?

Remember that every king that has ever reigned, every navy that has ever set sail, every leader that has ever led, every team that has ever had a dynasty, were all “great” for a time, but where are they now? Everything has a limit and everything comes and goes.  Over the past 2000 years, all of these things have passed away expect the Church. Why? The Church has the only real source of power, of life, of endurance and that is the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that was given to us at Pentecost.
 
A company that has power in the modern world is Starbucks.  In 2006, Starbucks had been in business for 35 years and had grown from a few employees to around 150,000 employees.  They went from 1 store to just over 13,000 stores worldwide. If someone were to go to places like New York, they would literally see Starbucks stores right across the street from each other.  That is significant power and growth.
 
But who is more powerful, Starbucks or the Church? Look at the numbers:
 
The Church in 33AD was led by St. Peter and ten apostles, all who had locked themselves up in the upper room out of fear.  Most of them were uneducated simple workers. Eleven grown men scared and locked in an upper room does not seem very powerful or a sign of potential growth.
 
Thirty-One years later, the Catholic Church had grown so fast and so large in number that the most powerful man in the world, Emperor Nero, felt threatened by the Christians.  It is a fact that Nero burned a portion of Rome down and blamed it on the Christians.  Nero knew that the Christians had power, and he wanted them gone.  Where did this power come from that challenged the most powerful man in the world?
 
Rome had about two million people in 64AD, and Christians were about ten percent of the population, that is 200,000 people.  So from 11 in 33AD to 200,000 in 64AD, and that was just in Rome.  By 64AD, the Catholic Church was also found in Jerusalem, Antioch, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, India, Africa and Spain, basically all parts of the known world.
 
You can use the second page of the Power of Pentecost Activity Sheet to see what modern cities would have the population of Rome and the population of just the Christian community in Rome.
 
Just as all people know about Starbucks today…all people would have known about Christ and the Christians back in the day.  So did the Church or Starbucks grow faster?
 

 
 
Starbucks has grown remarkably fast, and it is a powerful company. It is a staple among coffee drinkers. However, The Church grew just as fast.  There are two more things to consider:

Starbuck had assistance to grow; marketing, the stock market and people who actually wanted it to grow and welcomed the stores in their cities, states and countries.  The Church had massive persecution the first 300 years of its existence. It had to grow in hiding with absolutely no support from the government and no money. The next question is, “will Starbuck be around 1900 years from now?”  The Church is still around and still growing.
 
The Church grew for one reason and one reason alone, Pentecost!  Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the power of the Father, and the Son, which is a power that is not temporary and shallow, but a power that is eternal and life giving.
 
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”  Acts 1:8 (theme of World Youth Day 2008)
 
Where did the apostles go after Pentecost? The power of Pentecost gave all the Apostles the courage to not just leave the upper room, but to go to the ends of the known world. Here is a list of the Apostles and where they had traveled [vi]:
 
MAP – Where the 12 Apostles Died
This is a google maps image of where tradition has our apostles dying in the world. Some Apostles have multiple locations because we are not 100% sure with some. You can use this map along with the context below.
 
Peter: He was able to bring the Church ultimately to Rome and establish his chair there. Before that, he held the council of Jerusalem and traveled to Antioch, Corinth, and made his way to Rome where he was crucified upside down upon his request.
 
James the Greater: He is mentioned concerning his death in the book of Acts. [vii] He had a high position with the Church in Jerusalem. Tradition holds, he traveled as far as Spain during his life to evangelize. Other traditions believe his body was sent there after his death. Either way, he now rests in Santiago de Compostela, which is one of the oldest and most popular pilgrimages in the Church.
 
John: He is noted by St. Paul as one of the “pillars”, the other being Peter. He was responsible for supervising the first Christians. He was also sent to Samaria and is the only apostle not to die a martyr’s death.  He wrote his Gospel as an old man looking back on the history and growth of the Church and in it he mentioned numerous details not mentioned in the first three Synoptic Gospels.
 
Andrew: He was known as the apostle of the Greek world. He later was crucified at Patras. He though, like his brother Peter, did not want to be crucified like Jesus. Instead, he was crucified on a diagonal or X-shaped cross, which has now come to be known as “St. Andrew’s cross”.
 
Thomas: He is believed to have traveled the furthest distance. He first evangelized in Syria and Persia then went on to Western India, from where he finally reached Southern India. To this day, most Indians from the South of India are Christian. For many years those who were from India and were Christians were known as “Thomas Christians”. Indians who live North of where Saint Thomas died are usually Hindu or Muslim. 
 
Bartholomew: We have no precise information about his whereabouts and where he went. Fourth century historian, Eusebius discovered traces of Bartholomew’s presence in India. In the Middle Ages, the popular tradition was that flaying killed Bartholomew. In Michelangelo’s painting “Last Judgment”, in the Sistine Chapel, Saint Bartholomew is shown holding his own skin in his left hand on which the artist left his self-portrait.
 
James the Lesser: James is extremely important after Pentecost. He helped bridge the gap between allowing pagans into the Church, and the Jews who were converting. He also helped with the issue of circumcision. It is thought that he stayed in Jerusalem for most of his life. A high priest betrayed him and turned him in to be stoned to death.
 
Matthias: We only know he was chosen to take the spot of Judas. We also know he was a witness to all of Jesus’ earthly events [viii] because that was part of the criteria which the other eleven set for selecting an apostle to take Judas’ place.
 
Philip: He is said to have evangelized first in Greece and then Frisia where he is supposed to have died, in Hierapolis, by a torture described as a variation of crucifixion or stoning.
 
Matthew: He is credited with not only preaching, but also writing one of the first gospels in his Hebrew language. He preached in Persia, Macedonia, Syria, and Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea (not the country in Africa). We are not sure how he died, but we do know he was a martyr.
 
Simon: He is often associated closely with the Apostle Jude. There is little known of exactly where he preached. Some have him going as far as Britain, the Black Sea, in Egypt and in Northern Africa. He is believed to have been crucified, and his body then sawed into many pieces.
 
Jude Thaddeus: It is believed he went and preached in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Libya. He is the author of his letter in the Bible in which he wrote, “But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.” [ix]
 
Paul:  St. Paul, although he describes himself as “least among the apostles” because he was called last by Jesus after his Resurrection, was the most active and missionary of all the apostles. He took multiple missionary trips across the Mediterranean area. He returned home to Antioch. He was in Jerusalem at the Apostolic Council. He went to Cypress, Pamphylia, Asia Minor, Ephesus, and Derbe just to name a few of the places. He was later imprisoned. He was sent to Rome and was eventually beheaded.

Can the power of the Holy Spirit be stopped? Saint Bonaventure said that the second most powerful force in the universe is free will. We have the free will to receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit; it will not be forced upon us. The power of the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped, because it is God, but it can be rejected by the free will of individuals. The apostles went to many places where the Spirit was accepted and gave life to those areas, but over time, individuals can also say no to the same Spirit that their ancestors once said yes to. We must in every age say yes to the Holy Spirit because if we do not we not only hurt our own soul, but our neighbors and our countries. One example of how things can change is the story of North Africa, which was once one of the strongest areas of the Catholic Church, but since the rise of Islam has diminished both in number and influence. Islam “…crushed Christianity, reducing the number of bishops in Africa from seven hundred and fifty in the seventh century to only five in the eleventh century, so that Africa now has to be re-evangelized.” [x]

How many bishops are there in America and could this same thing happen in our country? As of 2011, there are 283 active bishops in America, if the same statistics occurred in America today, as they did in Africa in the seventh century, we would be reduced from 283 bishops to two.  What would that do to us, the faithful, to the reception of the Sacraments? What effects would it have on us? We must be willing to lay down our life for the faith, so that the faith in our land, our cities, our homes, is always preserved, strong and a powerful force building a civilization of love.
 
MOVIE – Spider-Man/Great Power...
With great power comes great responsibility. Confirmation gives us great power but also gives great responsibility. Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker to be careful, “These are the years that a man changes into the man he will become the rest of his life, just be careful who you change into” We can take both Uncle Ben’s and Pope Ben’s (Benedict XVI) advice. In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be “sealed” with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the “seal” of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being “baptized” in the one Spirit (cf.  1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being “given to drink” of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord’s plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being “sealed with the Spirit” means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.” [xi]
 

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[i] John 16:12-13
[ii] The trial of Saint Justin Martyr (165AD)
[iii] Rite of Baptism
[iv] http://www.remnantapostles.com/?load=page&page=793
[v] Homily at the 23^rd World Youth Day by Pope Benedict XVI – for the whole homily see, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080720_xxiii-wyd_en.html
[vi] Pope Benedict The Apostles and newadvent.org
[vii] Acts 12:1-2
[viii] Acts 1:21-22
[ix] Jude 0:20
[x] Fulton J. Sheen; The World’s First Love; Ignatius Press; Page 268
[xi] Homily at the 23^rd World Youth Day by Pope Benedict XVI