A Word from Your Pastor - June 8 Pentecost

Dear Parishioners:

Pentecost is a Feast full of Hope.  After the Suffering and Death of Jesus, the disciples were cowering in despair.  The Resurrection opened them to the Newness of Life.  The time with the Risen Lord Jesus before His departure deepened their understanding of what had occurred.  The Ascension and the call to prayer until the Promise of the Father was fulfilled prepared them to tell the Good News to the whole world.  At Pentecost, the full reality of who they were to be as Church was made clear.   The Holy Spirit gave them an experience of Joy and Triumph that sustained them in their Mission and still guides us today.

Pentecost is a feast of generosity.  It is the moment when God Himself takes out all the stops and sends the first taste of Eternal Life into the world, sharing what Jesus won for us by His Suffering, Death, Resurrection and Ascension with hearts open to receive.  God’s Generosity cannot be outdone, but it is unable to flow freely in us unless we too are generous.  Now is the time when we are called to go “all-in” with God.  The Spirit has boundless gifts to offer.  Such gifts can be received only by those willing to pass them on.

Pentecost is the 50th Day after Passover, corresponding to the Jewish Feast of Weeks.  Even among the People of Israel, it is a time of generosity:

“You shall then keep the feast of Weeks in honor of the LORD, your God, and the measure of your own freewill offering shall be in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.”  (Deuteronomy 16:10)

God wants all that we are: body, mind and spirit, heart and soul.  He asks us to respond in freedom to the Gift He offers us, with the measure of His generosity, not our own need or even the needs of others.  This implies that no matter how generous we may think we are, we can always grow in generosity.    God’s Spirit can increase our capacity to give in proportion to the openness of our hearts. 

As we conclude the Easter Season with Pentecost and as we enter once again into Ordinary Time, may we continue to grow in our cooperation with the Holy Spirit.  Asking for grace, may we become a people ever more welcoming to those who come to share life with us in Christ.  God has blessed us and we must share the blessing with the world.