For a second straight year, Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the vigil Mass of Pentecost at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul with hundreds of people remaining afterward for more than an hour to pray and sing hymns of praise and worship.

“It’s one year ago that we gathered here for the conclusion of our Archdiocesan Synod,” the archbishop said in his homily at the May 27 Mass. “Since that time, we’ve been unpacking what was discussed and decided at the Synod. Those of you who were there will remember it was a graced evening.”

That should not be a surprise, the archbishop said, “because the Holy Spirit never disappoints. And this great feast of Pentecost with its vigil is a time when the Lord makes his presence known in the rumblings of the Holy Spirit.” Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, filling them with the grace and power to spread the love of Christ far and wide.

Signs of the Spirit’s movement through the multi-year Synod — which culminated in an assembly last June that was followed by the archbishop’s post-Synodal pastoral letter “You Will Be My Witnesses” in November and is now being implemented — have included physical and spiritual healings and “people coming back to the Church because of the prayers to the Holy Spirit of their family members,” the archbishop said. “The Holy Spirit is indeed active and calls us forth into a deep unity.”

At the Mass, Patty Rosno of St. Joseph in West St. Paul said she saw announcements about plans for Archbishop Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams to celebrate the vigil Mass and be part of the prayer service afterward.

“I just thought it was amazing, that the bishops would be leading us in an evening of awakening of the Spirit,” said Rosno, 57, who came with her husband, Jim, 59, their oldest daughter Michelle, 34, and her two children. All were dressed in red, representing the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The two-hour, extended vigil Mass included five Scripture readings, prayers between each and the Gospel. Readings, hymns and prayers were proclaimed in Spanish, Vietnamese, Polish, Hmong, French and English.

“How beautiful that we were able to hear those readings proclaimed in those languages that are so important to this archdiocese,” the archbishop said in his homily. “The Spirit brings together people from many cultures, many languages, many continents, all to be fixed on that love that is shared by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“We gather here this evening in thankgsiving for the ways in which we’ve seen the presence of the Holy Spirit,” the archbishop said. “But it’s not just thanksgiving. We also pray for more. We want the Holy Spirit to be so evident in the life of this Church that more would be attracted to Jesus and his Church.”

Preston Richter, 24, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, attended the Mass and prayer service that followed. A member of college and university campus ministry St. Paul’s Outreach, based in Mendota Heights, he and others were gathered for summer training. Striving to rely on the Holy Spirit in his ministry, Richter said, “I am right at home here.”