A Word from Your Pastor - May 15 Pentecost

Dear Parishioners:

Come, Holy Spirit!  Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth!

Today we pray this prayer in earnest, begging God to pour out His Spirit on us and to draw us ever more into the Life that God has offered us through Jesus Christ.  Pentecost is the grand conclusion to the Easter Season and an invitation to respond to the power of God at work in us. 

The Scriptures remind us that the Church is born by the grace of the Holy Spirit.  We see Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the Apostles gathered together in the Upper Room, receiving the touch of God through wind and tongues of fire.  We hear of the new courage that Peter and the others experience that leads them to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrection.  We observe the effective movement of the Word that is presented so boldly as people of every nation hear the Truth and respond by accepting the New Life given to them in Christ.  The first Pentecost sets in motion the going forth of the Church to every land and nation.

In our time, we hear the invitation to a new Pentecost that draws us into the Mission of Evangelization and Catechesis.  Each one of us is called to hear the Gospel, to change our minds and hearts, and to commit to the New Life poured out on us through the Spirit.  How does the Holy Spirit move in your heart?  Is your own Joy in the Gospel evident in your manner of living?  Who is waiting to hear your proclamation of the Good News?

May the Holy Spirit fill you with God’s Peace and may you become ever more aware of the Truth of the Gospel.  Happy Pentecost!

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.  Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful.  In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Prayer from St. Augustine:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my work too may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy.
Guide me then, O Holy Spirit,
that I always may be holy.