Fr. Guy Nicholls i Oratoriet i London har skrevet en artikkel om hvor viktig pinsens oktav er (og hvor dumt det er at den ble borte i den nye kalenderen), og han begynner mer et sitat av kard. Newman: «… consider the breviary offices for Pentecost and its Octave, the grandest, perhaps in the whole year …» Det er en grundig artikkel, som man bør lese i sin helthet, men her er noen av hans poenger:
The transition to Ordinary time on the Monday after Pentecost is disjunctive. It is not simply the return to Ordinary time per se that jars, since that must happen at some time anyway. No, the problem that several of your correspondents share with me is the sense that the first green Monday after Pentecost has come from nowhere. In addition to the abruptness of this transition, the ferial days which now follow Pentecost belong to an entirely disconnected sequence that was broken off before Lent and so has no token of continuity with what has immediately preceded it. The transition was formerly more intelligible since the Octave of Pentecost came quietly to an end on Ember Saturday, emerging easily in First Vespers of Trinity Sunday, the beginning of a new week and season, and a feast, indeed, which celebrated and contemplated the mysteries which were fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Spirit «leading the Church into all truth». What is the effective result of the loss of the Pentecost Octave?
First, it has the most unfortunate effect of reducing Pentecost to a mere end point. Because it is now simply a single day at the conclusion of Paschaltide from which all that follows is discontinuous, Ordinary Time does not seem to succeed Pentecost, but to supplant it. ….
Secondly, this rupture and discontinuity is further increased by the nomenclature of «Ordinary Time». …
Thirdly, the greatly reduced presence of Pentecost as a one-day wonder leaves a vacuum which the charismatic pentecostalists would seek to fill. …. With regard to a pneumatological focus to the liturgy, I find it difficult to see how the pre-Pentecost Novena (as argued by Mgr Bugnini) can adequately replace the weight of the post-Pentecost Octave. …
Fourthly, if the character and solemnity of the Pentecost Octave are ultimately connected to the baptismal celebrations of Pentecost, should the Octave continue to exist in the same form as it did until 1970 and should there be two celebrations of Baptism of like solemnity at either end of the same season? …
Fifthly, Pentecost is a feast which demands “resonance” for its importance in the Church’s life to be made clear. An octave provides a feast with room to resonate. It is the counterpart to Pope Paul VI’s image of the Church bell which rings out before Mass, thereby preparing the faithful psychologically to take part in the liturgy. ….
Fimally, it is important also not to forget the Breviary Offices of Pentecost and its Octave, which Blessed John Henry Newman called “the grandest, perhaps, of the whole year” (v. An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, ch. 5, section 2, “Belief in the Holy Trinity”). These reflections from the Fathers upon the Gospel readings of each day invite us to deepen our assimilation of the mystery of the Life of the Church whose soul is the Holy Spirit (v. Catechism of the Catholic church no. 797).
In summary, the character of Pentecost as a consummation and fulfilment of the Paschal Mystery suggests that it is fitting to celebrate it with an Octave similar in character and rank to that of Easter. …