From the celebration of Funeral Liturgies to the celebration of Baptisms, the life of our Parish and of all parishes is fully revealed as we bring our faith and God’s grace to the most significant moments of challenge or achievement. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the first Disciples on the Feast of Pentecost is embraced in memory, in Word, in song, and in Sacrament on this Solemnity of Pentecost because our God has chosen to be the same and to do the same for us even now, right here where God finds us!
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you ... Receive the Holy Spirit ...’” John 20:21-22
There are words or phrases in our culture and our society that can lift our hearts to rejoice and others that can cause our blood to boil. These words above, proclaimed today from the Gospel of John have the power to lift us, to encourage and motivate us, to guide us “to” and “through.”
Some things we do, and even some things we say can become a matter of “going through the motions.” These words we proclaim and hear during our celebration of Liturgy, this Word, should never be so... Here is God speaking to us and with us. And the words we speak or even sing in response to God and for the sake of the encouragement we offer one another should always be something quite more than “going through the motions.” We open our minds and our hearts so that they are truly lifted during this sacred moment. And not for this moment only, but so that the Holy Spirit, encountered here, can speak and lift us in other sacred moments anywhere and anytime7.so that the Holy Spirit encountered here might speak and lift through us. When we are willing, God does the lifting!
Fr. Tom