A happy Pentecost Sunday to all of you. Well done you good and faithful servants for praying and fasting through 9-day Novena to the Holy Spirit.
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear “and suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind and it filled the entire house in which they were… And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The image of being filled with the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit is not just meant for the apostles, it is meant for each one of us too, individually, and communally. There were 120 apostles and disciples, including Mary the mother of Jesus, when the Spirit fell upon them in the upper room, filling it with the power of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire rested on each one of them.
William S. Kurtz, SJ in the Catholic Commentary on the Sacred Scripture on the Acts of the Apostles says “Luke goes out of his way to mention the presence of Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Mary was the first to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). As the Holy Spirit overshadowed her to bring about the birth of Jesus, he will overshadow the 120 disciples at Pentecost to bring about the birth of the church.”
To be filled with the Holy Spirit in our lives there has to be an openness, a docility of the heart and will. Where has your heart been more open these past nine days in preparation for Pentecost? What did you have to let go of? What did you have to surrender too? What did you have to renounce in your life that was not of the Lord? It is hard to be filled with the Holy Spirit if we are still carrying the baggage of hurts and wounds in life and in our relationships with one another.
St. Ignatius of Loyola gives us five success successive steps in praying the Examen prayer that he discovered through his own encounter in prayer and with the Holy Spirit that caused changed his heart from within. Gratitude, petition, review forgiveness and renewal. That first step is gratitude. “Give thanks to God our Lord for all He has given me. Think especially about the gifts of this day.” What do you want to give thanks to God for as you prayed and fasted through this 9-day Novena to the Holy Spirit? What were the graces, the blessings, those times of consolations you experienced, filling your heart the grace of a new Pentecost?
I hope that you will share your graces and blessings with friends and family of the last nine days. Because they are of the Holy Spirit and they become contagious to others who hear your witness and testimony of faith.
A happy Pentecost Sunday to all of you. Well done you good and faithful servants for praying and fasting through 9-day Novena to the Holy Spirit.
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear “and suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind and it filled the entire house in which they were… And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The image of being filled with the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit is not just meant for the apostles, it is meant for each one of us too, individually, and communally. There were 120 apostles and disciples, including Mary the mother of Jesus, when the Spirit fell upon them in the upper room, filling it with the power of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire rested on each one of them.
William S. Kurtz, SJ in the Catholic Commentary on the Sacred Scripture on the Acts of the Apostles says “Luke goes out of his way to mention the presence of Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Mary was the first to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). As the Holy Spirit overshadowed her to bring about the birth of Jesus, he will overshadow the 120 disciples at Pentecost to bring about the birth of the church.”
To be filled with the Holy Spirit in our lives there has to be an openness, a docility of the heart and will. Where has your heart been more open these past nine days in preparation for Pentecost? What did you have to let go of? What did you have to surrender too? What did you have to renounce in your life that was not of the Lord? It is hard to be filled with the Holy Spirit if we are still carrying the baggage of hurts and wounds in life and in our relationships with one another.
St. Ignatius of Loyola gives us five success successive steps in praying the Examen prayer that he discovered through his own encounter in prayer and with the Holy Spirit that caused changed his heart from within. Gratitude, petition, review forgiveness and renewal. That first step is gratitude. “Give thanks to God our Lord for all He has given me. Think especially about the gifts of this day.” What do you want to give thanks to God for as you prayed and fasted through this 9-day Novena to the Holy Spirit? What were the graces, the blessings, those times of consolations you experienced, filling your heart the grace of a new Pentecost?
I hope that you will share your graces and blessings with friends and family of the last nine days. Because they are of the Holy Spirit and they become contagious to others who hear your witness and testimony of faith.
God bless – Fr. Mark