Today's Readings
Today, is a special day in my life. On my ordination day, June 3rd, in 1972, I celebrated my first Mass. In that year it was the feast of Pentecost. Consequently Pentecost has had a significance for me throughout the 41 years I have celebrated Mass on this feast day.
Today, in 2013, let me ask myself as well as yourselves, if this feast day has significance and what would it be. My thoughts a filled with wonder. I wonder what might happen if on this feast day the Holy Spirit were to come down upon all of us with all of God’s power? Have you ever given this notion time for wonder-thinking?
Recall this: the Jewish people had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Shavuot. It is the feast that commemorates and “celebrates the revelation of the Five Books of the Torah (or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible) by God to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.” (Wikipedia)
While in Jerusalem, the disciples gathered alone, in private, still in fear of Jewish soldiers being ordered to jail them for interrogation, like Jesus endured. It while they were sequestered from the crowd, the Holy Spirit came to bring about an incredible reality. We live in the consequences of that moment even today. For those devout followers of Jesus this became for them a day of transformation. No longer were they simply a band of Jesus-followers. In this event these believers became the Church of Jesus Christ, the risen Son of the Father.
For you and me it is an event or moment that is ratified by our Confirmation, when we fully embrace the Catholic Church. It is the day when we move into a new way of life and being ... if we allow the Spirit to enter our lives. It is the day when the Church came to life for the apostles and humanity. Today celebrate this moment by a genuine conversation with God. Let the readings for today give you material to strengthen your conversation with the Holy Spirit.
Recall the gifts you may have received during the days of the just concluded Novena to the Holy Spirit.
