Pentecost - 2019

Through  the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Unlike the tongues of flame of Pentecost, the sacramental signs that indicate to us that the graces have been given are: +Laying On of Hands +Water +Anointing with Oil. For many people these sacraments are separated in time; such as baptism as infants and confirmation in the teen years. As Pope John Paul II taught in his  APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION, ON CATECHESIS IN OUR TIME (#19), the graces of the sacraments remain with us, as it were, in potential, awaiting our response and cooperation. I have seen many people, myself included, experience the awakening of the grace of the sacraments while participating in special circumstances like retreats, renewal movements etc. In the case of the Charismatic Renewal movement, this awakening was often accompanied by the classic manifestations referred to in the scriptures. The Feast of Pentecost is a most appropriate opportunity for us to seek such renewal and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council with a prayer interceding for a [ "New Pentecost within the Church" ]. The renewal movements that followed in the 70's, often referred to their experience as receiving the "Grace of Renewal". Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a major feature in many of the Posts in this blog. Use [ Search This Blog ] on the side panel to get links to these earlier references. The Page: [ Special Series Index Page ] links to a thirteen post series on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  The Page [ Prayer for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit ] addresses this directly. The focus of the feast of Pentecost is often centred on the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the 7 gifts enumerated in Isaiah Ch. 11 or the 9 Gifts listed in 1 Cor. 12:  – and there are the fruits of the Spirit. But our first focus of Pentecost is on the person of the Holy Spirit and the radical transformation that happens to us when we receive the Holy Spirit into our beings. In Gal. 2: Paul describes it in this way.  “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And that which I now live in the flesh, I live through faith from the Son of God, the One having loved me and having given up Himself for me.” A new Spirit has taken over as the living principle animating what was once my doing alone. This is what is called “the Life of the Spirit” – the spiritual life. St. Paul lays out the nature of this new Life in the Spirit for us in Romans 8. “Before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it was my bodily needs and worldly desire that are controlling my life.” But with the coming of the Spirit that all changes. In verse 9: Paul tells us.  “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you." Rom. 8: In Gal. 5:16 Paul describes this in more detail: “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.” The following are some prayers of the liturgies for Pentecost. Vigil Mass Grant, we pray, almighty God, that the splendor of your glory may shine forth upon us and that, by the bright rays of the Holy Spirit, the light of your light may confirm the hearts of those born again by your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Prayer after Communion May these gifts we have consumed benefit us, O Lord, that we may always be aflame with the same Spirit, whom you wondrously poured out on your Apostles. Through Christ our Lord. Pentecost Day, Prayer O God, who by the mystery of today’s great feast sanctify your whole Church in every people and nation, pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth and, with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed, fill now once more the hearts of believers. Preface It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God. For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit today on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son. This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth, opened to all peoples the knowledge of God and brought together the many languages of the earth in profession of the one faith. Therefore, overcome with paschal joy, every land, every people exults in your praise and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts, sing together the unending hymn of your glory, as they acclaim: Prayer after Communion O God, who bestow heavenly gifts upon your Church, safeguard, we pray, the grace you have given, that the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon her may retain all its force and that this spiritual food may gain her abundance of eternal redemption.

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