On the Ember Saturday of Pentecost—Sabbato Quattuor Temporum Pentecostes—Holy Mother Church gathers us into the heart of a venerable tradition: to fast, pray, and reflect upon the great gifts of the Holy Ghost. Among the many readings in the Ember Saturday Mass, we find Joel 2:28–32 and Luke 4:38–44 paired together in striking spiritual harmony. In them, the Church sees both the promise and the outworking of the Holy Spirit—the anticipation and its fulfillment—framed in the fiery glow of Pentecost.
The Prophecy of Joel: The Spirit Will Be Poured Out
“And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh…” (Joel 2:28)
In this prophecy, we hear the voice of God through Joel foretelling a time of spiritual abundance—a reversal of the famine described earlier in the chapter. The Church Fathers understood this passage as a foretelling of Pentecost itself. St. Augustine, in his homily on the Acts of the Apostles, writes:
“This prophecy of Joel is not to be fulfilled in part, but in its fullness, when the Church has spread to every nation. Then truly, your sons and daughters shall prophesy—not by foretelling the future only, but by proclaiming Christ.” (cf. Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 148)
The imagery of sons and daughters prophesying, old men dreaming dreams, and young men seeing visions indicates a universality—the democratization, so to speak, of divine inspiration. It is a vision of the Spirit descending not only upon prophets and kings, as of old, but upon every faithful soul: children, the aged, the slave and free alike.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem saw in this passage the expansive generosity of the New Covenant:
“The Holy Spirit is one and the same, but He works in many ways. As rain falls upon every tree, each according to its kind, so does the Spirit come upon each soul in the Church, giving gifts as He wills.” (Catechetical Lectures, XVII)
Thus, Joel’s prophecy is not just a foreshadowing of the first Pentecost, but also a perennial pattern for the Church: the Spirit descends in abundance where hearts are prepared, where humility and expectation meet in prayer and fasting—precisely the context of Ember Days.
Luke 4:38–44: Christ the Healer and Preacher
In the Gospel, we move from prophecy to fulfillment—though not yet in the tongues of fire of Acts 2, but in the very Person of Christ, filled with the Spirit and going about doing good. We behold Our Lord healing Simon’s mother-in-law, curing many of sickness, and casting out devils. It is a portrait of divine compassion and authority.
“And when it was day, going out he went into a desert place.” (Luke 4:42)
St. Ambrose, reading this passage, sees in Christ’s actions a pattern for the apostolic life:
“The Lord heals first the mother-in-law of Peter, who represents the Synagogue fevered with the love of temporal things; then He casts out demons with a word, signifying the authority of His teaching. But in going out to a desert place, He shows that the Spirit drives Him not to rest, but to prayer and solitude.” (Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, IV)
The Church Fathers often linked healing miracles to the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Christ heals with a word—just as later, the Apostles will heal and preach by the same Spirit. The devils are silenced; sickness is rebuked. All these acts prefigure what the Church, filled with the Spirit, will carry forward.
Origen reflects on the demons crying out and being silenced as a sign of the wisdom of God at work in His economy:
“He would not permit demons to speak, for the testimony of evil spirits is not suitable for divine truth. He wanted men to come to Him not by compulsion, but through faith inspired by grace.” (Homilies on Luke, V)
A Synthesis: From Prophecy to Mission
The readings together form a holy arc—from Joel’s vision of a Spirit-filled future to Christ’s Spirit-driven ministry in Galilee. On this Ember Saturday, we are invited to see our place in this divine drama. The Church, born of the side of Christ and animated by the Spirit at Pentecost, continues His healing, preaching, and sanctifying mission.
The Ember Days, with their call to prayer, fasting, and discernment—especially for those to be ordained—remind us that the Spirit is not given for comfort alone, but for mission. The Spirit calls us to prophesy, to speak Christ to the world; to heal, to bring His mercy to the wounded; to withdraw in prayer, as Christ did, and to return filled anew.
Let us close with the words of St. Leo the Great, who preached on Pentecost:
“Let us not resist the Holy Ghost, by whom the whole body of the Church is sanctified. Let every soul examine itself, and see whether it possesses this Spirit, whether it is guided by this light, whether it lives in accordance with this breath.” (Sermo LXXV in Pentecostes)
Conclusion
On this holy Ember Saturday of Pentecost, the fire of the Spirit meets the soil of our humility. Joel’s vision becomes real in the Church; Christ’s Spirit-filled ministry becomes our inheritance. Let us fast with joy, pray with fervor, and open wide our hearts—ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus—that in all things God may be glorified.