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BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/may.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101
NOTEWORTHY: YEAR OF FAITH
May 20, 2013
(Act 1:8) But
you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you
shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria,
and even to the uttermost part of the earth.
AMERICAN CATHOLIC: Pentecost: Why Was the Holy Spirit Sent?
EXCERPT: Come, Holy Spirit! by Fr. Jerry M. Orbos SVD
We need a new Pentecost in our present day and time. We need the Holy
Spirit in our lives to guide, to heal, to comfort, and to counsel us.
May we be liberated from our fears, ignorance, pride, and hunger for
worldly riches and power. We all need transformation and renewal.
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in
them the fire of your love. Send forth thy spirit and they shall be
created, and you will renew the face of the earth.”
* * *
I am writing this column in Lisieux, France, the home of St. Therese
whom Pope Pius X called “The Greatest Saint of Modern Times.” Her
humility and littleness are what made this saint great. There is no
greater power than gentleness and humility. The world, of course, will
laugh at this, but the Holy Spirit will teach and remind us what our
Lord and Master has taught us. “The advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name, will teach you everything, and remind you
of all that I told you.”
* * *
St. Therese’s “little way” is all about being simple, humble, and
childlike. It is being deeply confident in God’s love and providence.
She reminds us that we do not need to do great things to love God, but
to do whatever we do with much love. She is also the Patroness of the
Missions, offering prayers and sacrifices for missionaries “out there”
within the walls of the Carmelite convent in Lisieux. If Pentecost must
happen again, we all must be a part of it in our own “little way.”
* * *
Pope Francis, who chose to be named after St. Francis of Assisi, is an
agent of Pentecost, filled with simplicity, sincerity, humility,
poverty, and trust in God’s providence. Today, let us ask ourselves: Am
I an agent of Pentecost, or an agent of Babel?
EXCERPT NEWS.VA: Pope at Pentecost: Newness, harmony and mission
1. Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more
secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who
build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas,
our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it
comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a
certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete
trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives
in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on
new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish
horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history
of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and
change, and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an
ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand;
Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to
freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth
with courage to proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty
for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our
boredom, as is so often the case in our own day. The newness which God
brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that
gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only
our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to “God’s surprises”? Or
are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we
have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness
sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures
which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?
2. A second thought: the Holy Spirit would appear to create disorder
in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet
all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but
which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church, it is the Holy
Spirit who creates harmony. One of Fathers of the Church has an
expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – “Ipse
harmonia est”. Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and
multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we
are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what
makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones
who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up
creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be
guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a
source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within
the communion of the Church. Journeying together in the Church, under
the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry,
is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit. Having a sense of the
Church is something fundamental for every Christian, every community
and every movement. It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me
to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous! When we venture beyond
(proagon) the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in
them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Jn 9). So let
us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit,
overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him,
living in the Church and with the Church?
3. A final point. The older theologians used to say that the soul is
a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails
and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the
Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go forward. The
Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us
from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential,
closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors and go forth to
proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to
communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy
Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem
almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us;
they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each
of us. The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a
beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of the
risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to reach everyone.
As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father, and he
will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever” (Jn 14:16).
It is the Paraclete Spirit, the “Comforter”, who grants us the courage
to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The Holy
Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts
of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ. Let us ask
ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or
do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Love of the Cross, Contempt and
Suffering
3. Crosses, contempt, sorrows and afflictions are
the real treasures of the lovers of Jesus Christ crucified.
Prayer request?
Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
This
month's archive can be
found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.