Pentecost Sunday
Scripture:
Acts 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 or
Romans 8:8-17
John 20:19-23 or
14:15-16, 23b-26
Reflection:
The event of Pentecost is hailed as the birthday the church. It is the day the followers of Jesus burst out of the Upper Room to boldly proclaim the Risen Jesus as the long awaited Christ. Pentecost is renewed and re-presented to us in the liturgy, the “work” of the church. Let us look at the prayers we pray on Pentecost.
First and foremost we will pray that the gifts of the Holy Spirit be poured out in our time across the face of the earth and that the divine grace, at work when the gospel was first proclaimed, fill the hearts of believers (Collect for the Mass of Pentecost). In the Sequence we will sing: “Come, Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home shed a ray of light divine! Come, Father of the poor! Come, source of all our store! Come, within our bosoms shine.” In the responsorial psalm we will confidently proclaim: “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” Finally, having received our Lord and Savior in Holy Communion we pray for the Church that the “gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon her may retain all its force” and gain for us eternal redemption.
Pope Francis recalls an old image used in the past. He says that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Homily, May 19, 2013) May this strong driving wind fill our lives with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.