Pentecost_B - Since the Beginning of Time_051924

Image Credit: 26120210_hand_holding_earth: elements-furnished-by-nasa_on_123rf_com

Deacon Tom Writes, 

Since the Beginning of Time

The Feast of Pentecost, Year B

Mass During the Day

Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples that we celebrate in today’s Feast of Pentecost completes Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The Trinity is completely revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ ascension into heaven that we celebrated last week marks the completion of Jesus ministry here on earth. With Pentecost we celebrate the dawning of a new era as the Church is born and receives the Holy Spirit to guide and testify to all the truth Jesus taught during his ministry.

The Holy Spirit began his mission within the church on that first Pentecost, but it is not as if the Spirit of God has been sitting on the sidelines with nothing to do up until then. Since the beginning of time the Holy Spirit has been busy at work in our world. The invisible hand, so to speak, continuing the work of creation and the guiding wisdom moving the cosmos to its fulfillment in Christ.

In the opening words of the Book of Genesis we find a “Mighty Wind”, that is, the Holy Spirit, sweeping over the formless wasteland, bringing order out of chaos, generating the creative process that formed the universe and filled our world with life.

In Genesis 1:26 the Spirit gives life to the dust from which we are all made and shares his very divine image with us as is written, “Let us make man in our image and likeness”.

In the Book of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit is personified as wisdom itself. In Wisdom 9:9 we read, “Now with you is Wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world; Who understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what is conformable with your commands”. Verse 11continues… “For she (Wisdom) knows and understands all things, and will guide me discreetly in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory”.

The Holy Spirit is the Wisdom of God that is evident in all creation. We know from all of our teachings that God is faithful to his promises, and he has promised to send his Spirit to all who ask him to do so. And so, we wait for the Holy Spirit to continue the work Jesus told us the Spirit of God would do when he arrives... "But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming" (John 16:13). And so, on this Pentecost, at this time when people around our world are in such dire straits and in such need of God's Truth, it is fitting to raise our minds and hearts and voices to invite the Holy Spirit into our lives to guide and protect us and to give us, and those who rule over us, the Wisdom of God by praying:

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 shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit

Did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

Grant that by the same Holy Spirit

We may be made truly wise

And rejoice in his consolation

Through Christ, Our Lord,

Amen

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacs engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those thinking of coming into or leaving it.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Here and Now by Henri J.M. Nouwen is not a faint memory, but happening right here and now, spiritual living takes place in the present; the Spirit meets us in the ordinary. These inspirational reflections by Henri Nouwen succeed in convincing us that God’s presence is reliable.

 

 

Recommended YouTube Video: Living in the Presence of God - part 1b with Fr. Thomas Keating who discusses the practice of Centering Prayer.