The title of this piece is a play on words, since the word “spirits” can also refer to alcoholic beverages. What does Pentecost have to do with alcohol? When the Apostles preached in Jerusalem to men of every tongue, some accused them of being drunk. “But others mocking said: These men are full of new wine” (Acts 2:13). They must have seemed quite “spirited” in their preaching, after all.

At this point, St. Peter delivered what may have been the first Papal sermon. He replied to the scoffers, “Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. For these [men] are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.” An Anglican friend of mine derives a great deal of pleasure from St. Peter’s argument here. He does not say, “We are sober men,” or, “We never touch the stuff,” but, “It’s only 9:00 A.M.!” What does this say about the Apostles’ normal drinking habits later in the day? No, I’m not saying they did get drunk, but all joking aside I think we can infer from this passage that they did drink . . . *after* noon. Our Lord’s wine-drinking was — unjustly, of course — held up against Him as an accusation (Matt. 11:16-9).

But in another, spiritual (hah!) sense, the scoffers were right — the Apostles really were filled with “new wine.” The parable of the new wine and old wineskins can be found in Matt. 9:17, Mark 2:22, and Luke 5:37-9. In each passage, the scribes and Pharisees fault Our Lord for eating with sinners and publicans (like St. Matthew, who converts in this scene). The disciples of St. John the Baptist ask Him why He and His disciples do not fast like themselves and the Pharisees. Our Lord answers that the time for fasting will come. However, no one at a wedding fasts as long as the bridegroom is present. Our Lord, of course, is the bridegroom, and the time for fasting comes when He departs from this world. After the wedding parable, Our Lord tells another one about not mending old garments with raw cloth. The cloth does not match and there is an even greater rent. Next, Our Lord mentions that no one puts new wine into old wineskins, as this causes the old bottles to break. New wine requires new wineskins. Clearly, these three parables are closely linked to one another.

How does this relate to Pentecost? By His Death and Resurrection, Our Lord ended the Old Covenant. The Aaronic priesthood had served its purpose and was now obsolete. The Synagogue of Israel had to give way to the Church of Christ, the twelve tribes to the twelve Apostles. Our Lord said that no one mends an old cloth with new cloth. The old cloth is the Old Covenant and its Synagogue, now irreparably rent like the curtain of the Temple torn on Good Friday. The “new cloth” of the Church cannot be used to patch up the Old Covenant. No, the two “cloths” do not match and the tear would only become greater. St. Luke goes further; he specifies that such a patch job would rend *the new cloth* as well. On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the Apostles preached repentance for the deicide of Calvary and brought their converts (formerly Jews of the Old Covenant) to baptism, the sharing of the Holy Spirit (i.e. Confirmation), and the communion of the “breaking of bread” (Acts 2:36-47). Here was a new cloth in the weaving.

Likewise, the “new wine” of the Holy Ghost was not poured into the priests and Levites of the Temple. It properly belonged to “new wineskins”: the Apostles, Our Blessed Mother, and the converts of Pentecost. Yes, the bridegroom had “left” in one sense (though He still remained in the “breaking of bread”), but this was necessary for the Paraclete and Comforter to arrive.

P.S. I have a theory I’d like to propose. Confirmation is the sacrament which confers the gifts of the Holy Ghost. You are anointed on the forehead with oil. If you are in a candlelit or lamplit environment, I imagine the oil would reflect the light. Would this look like a “tongue of fire” resting on one’s forehead? I of course believe that the Pentecost miracle literally happened. I merely wonder if the matter of Confirmation is designed as it were to repeat some of the physical phenomena associated with the first outpouring of the Holy Ghost.