Today in the many churches here it is Pentecost, the festival of the birth of Christ’s Church.

I’m a descendant of both sides of the Church, both claim to being Catholic but they are of the two sides of the Great Schism of the eleventh century. As I mentioned earlier my father is Roman Catholic and my mother is Romanian Orthodox.

I went to church this morning, to celebrate Pentecost but in the Roman Rite. So my skirt was long enough to cover my knees, and it covered my shoulders too, and I wore what is known as a mantilla. Since I am unwed my mantilla is white, married women tend to wear black, though I have seen married women wearing blue.

The priest spoke about this festival for the birth of the church in that upper room where the Holy Spirit visited the disciples and apostles who had gathered as Jesus had instructed them to before his ascension into Heaven. It is always inspiring to revisit these Bible verses.