In ancient Greek, Pentecost means the fiftieth day. This feast in ancient Israel as the celebration of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Till date it is celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot. In the Liturgical year of the Church. Pentecost is celebrated to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the followers of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:1-31). Pentecost refers to the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost (seven weeks). Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. In the Old Testament, Shavuot (Pentecost) is the celebration of the Festival of Weeks (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10); Festival of Reaping (Exodus 23:16) and the Day of the First Fruits (Numbers28:26).
The Pentecost experience indicates the reunion of peoples, tribes and cultures: ‘There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.  At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking ‘Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language’? We are Parthians, Medes. and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travellers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God” (Acts 2:1-1 1). Understanding each other has to do with listening especially with openness and trust in the world today. It is obvious from the experience of the internal conflicts in homogenous communities that speaking the same language does not necessarily imply unity
In the prehistoric narrative of Genesis, God had confused the language of those who out of pride were competing with him. In the project of building the Tower of Babel. “They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for the them. Come let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11:4-9). Here language could also be interpreted to mean any idea and human wisdom that contradicts the will of God.
The narrative of the Tower of Babel reveals the attitude of the human person that needed to be corrected with the Pentecost experience. The human person has the inclination to be popular. Come let us  build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens. So  that we may make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4 in the world today, some people do a lot of incredible  things to make name  for themselves. These include killing fellow human beings for rituals to acquire wealth and power. Some even kill physically to attain their inordinate political ambition not for the good of the people but for the sake of their insatiable pockets. these group of people would do anything to ensure that their brothers, sisters, friends do not measure up to their level. They prefer to but the rope that took them up or destroy the ladder on which they climbed to the top so that no other person would use the rope or ladder. The message of Pentecost is that God created each and every person with a unique and specific gift to contribute to the growth of humanity with the different spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12: 4-12).
In every community, there is need for order. God normally enables a person to direct the affairs of the community to enhance mutual growth. In the context of Pentecost, a leader is a person who is inspired by the Spirit of God and remains docile to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In Christian theology, Jesus Christ is the perfect manifestation and revelation of God the Father (Matt 11:27; John 17: 25-26); the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ. “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” (1Cor 12:3). The Holy Spirit is made manifest through the good and positive actions of human beings who are inspired by the Spirit. In the Earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, he had promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the apostles all they would need to know. But the Holy Spirit would not act in a vacuum. The Holy Spirit would be made manifest through the teaching ministry of the Church under the leadership of the Supreme Pontiff who was called and chosen by Jesus Christ to be the Head of the Apostolic College hence; it was peter who delivered the sermon on the day of Pentecost
The primacy of Peter as the Head of the Apostolic College was respected hence even in the midst of the ‘different tongues, the congregation listened to him and understood him when he told them that the Pentecost event was a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel: “I will pour out my spirit upon every flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams” (Joel 2:28-29) Acts 2:17). Peter ruled out the possibility that those speaking in tongues were drunk (Acts 2:15). The result of Peter’s sermon was the conversion and, baptism of many people (Acts 2:41). The Psalmist had prayed that the lord should send down his Spirit to renew the face of the earth (Psalm 104). This was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ to which Peter was a witness: “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again. Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me. so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them. Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you are retained 1 John 20:19-23.
Peter and the apostles were thus given the mission to preach, baptize and promote peace and reconciliation through forgiveness of sins. The Apostles would do these by letting the people know the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. The celebration of Pentecost calls on us to think again what makes a human being different from other animals this Spirit of God in each and every person. We are therefore mandated to respect this gift and do all that is humanly possible to avoid greed, selfishness, pride and all means to satisfy the desires of the flesh at the expense of the people with whom we share the same humanity. As we launch into another democratic era we call on the Holy Spirit to renew the face of our world with the gift of wisdom understanding counsel. Knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.
Fr. Prof. Cornelius, Afebu Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialog in the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria. Abuja and Consultor of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims (CRRM) Vatican City (Omonokhua a general.