Pentecost

Fifty Days have passed since the glorious celebration of Easter. It has been hard to maintain that high level of Alleluia, and "Christ is risen, truly risen." The lilies have long faded away and except for the lighted Pascal Candle, all seemed to have returned to normal, Then another BLAST, Pentecost. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (and us), the birth of the Church, the power to thrust the message of Jesus from generation to generation until the end of time. A child once asked, "How do we know there is a Holy Spirit, what does he look like?" Evidently, the "dove" did not do it for him. A good question for us to ponder.
The Sequence of today's Mass has a score of images, each one evoking limitless boundaries upon which to meditate. As a matter of fact, this is a day that demands more time for meditation on the Spirit...it's a definitely "gotta-get-back-to-this" kinda day. Is the Spirit Light? Father of the poor? Source of all our store? The soul's most welcome guest? Comforter? Rest most sweet? Solace? Wind? Water? Fire? Commonly we associate wind with the Spirit, knowing how invigorating it can be, but on the other hand, as recent weather patterns have demonstrated, violent and destructive. Fire, also, bringing needed warmth against the frigid cold, yet at the same time, having the potential for enormous devastation. The Holy Spirit is all of these, for it takes such power and force to "bend the stubborn heart and will". Who can change us, who can change me? In the Veni Creator Spiritus, there is a wonderful line, "Flecte quod est rigidum" bend what is rigid. If, as we so often pray, "fill the hearts of the faithul and enkindle in them the fire of thy love", the first requirement, it seems to me, is to bend, break open the doors of our own rigidity and stubborness, and melt down those iron portals so that they become flexible and allow the Spirit to work freely and effectively in us. In the car, in the bathroom, wherever, let us take time to repeat and mean it, "Come Holy Spirit, Come". Show the earnestness of a determined flexibility to pray over the Sequence, or to create your own prayer to the Holy Spirit. Make this Pentecost a day that stands out from others.
Bro. Rene