1. The Birth of the Church

2.  The night He died, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit  Pentecost: Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles while they were in the Upper Room ◦ Birthday of the Church ◦ Mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles  Holy Spirit ◦ 3 rd Member of Trinity ◦ Appeared in the form of tongues of fire ◦ Gave the Apostles the grace to preach

3.  Pentecost was only the final step in a plan to make the Church present on earth  Three stages of the Church’s establishment ◦ Prefigured in the Old Testament ◦ Made present during Christ’s life ◦ Made manifest in the world on Pentecost

4.  God made promises to Adam after the Fall, and Noah after the Flood ◦ Ark is even considered a symbol of the Church  Covenant with Abraham ◦ Beginning of the Ekklesia (people set apart/assembly/Church)  Moses ◦ Renewed Covenant ◦ Formal religion with ceremonies and laws (10 Commandments) ◦ Hierarchical Structure of Priests (Tribe of Levi)

5.  King David ◦ Prefigures Christ the King ◦ God is the true king, but David is His vicar (representative), prefiguring the Pope  Prophets spoke of the Christ ◦ Isaiah

6.  Church established on earth during Christ’s life  12 Apostles to lead the Church ◦ Men from a variety of backgrounds  Peter to lead the Apostles ◦ “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” ◦ First Pope  Jesus teachings established Church teachings

7.  The night before He died, Christ prayed for unity in the Church  When He ascended into Heaven, the basic Church structure was complete  Deposit of Grace: The grace merited for us by Christ’s death and Resurrection  Deposit of Faith: The truths revealed by Christ in a special way to the Apostles during His public ministry

8.  Christ’s last instruction to the Apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”  Apostles needed courage to make Christ’s plan a reality  The Holy Spirit given to the Apostles at Pentecost ◦ Gave strength to the Apostles, who immediately preached ◦ Converted 3000 people that day  Church was prefigured in the Old Testament, was built by Christ, established at Pentecost, and continues to grow today