What is the meaning and purpose behind the Pentecost Sequence that follows the Second Reading? Sequences were chants in the form of liturgical poems used as hymns of joy following the final note of the Alleluia. At one time in our church’s liturgical history there were over 5,000 in existence. Most were abolished at the Council of Trent, and in our post-Vatican II Liturgy only four survive. Two are optional: for Corpus Christi (Lauda Sion) and Our Lady of Sorrows (Stabat Mater – the text of which is still used in the traditional song for Stations of the Cross); and two remain obligatory: the Easter Sequence (Victimae Paschali Laudes) and the Pentecost Sequence (Veni, Sancte Spiritus) which we hear in today’s Mass. They also now precede the Alleluia instead of concluding it. The Pentecost Sequence is a beautiful poetic prayer calling for the Holy Spirit to come among us as divine light, to comfort us in our labors and struggles, to heal our wounds and strengthen us, to bring us her seven-fold gifts. It reminds us that without the Holy Spirit we are nothing and are incapable of doing good. In one notable section that reads, “Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray,” we plead that our hearts be ever more open to God’s will and presence, and that our actions be brought back to the right path. Perhaps this Pentecost, we might reflect on this beautiful text and allow the Holy Spirit to truly enter our hearts and lives, bringing us those gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, and through them “joys that never end.”