Celebrating Pentecost.

WHY DOES THE CHURCH CELEBRATE PENTECOST?

The Holy Spirit.

This feast marks the 50 days of Easter and the closing of Eastertide as a liturgical season, and the birth of the Church.  Pentecost commemorates not only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples- as we know, but also the fruits and effects of that event: the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations 

So, Pentecost is not just a feast but in fact it is a Solemnity. It is the Church's birthday- ours too as Catholics. God is three persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit yet one God.  This is a mystery.  However, we can in our prayer life tap into all three persons. If we were to ask Catholics generally how they communicate with God, I think the survey might come in as many tending to communicate with God as Father or Jesus as His Son and perhaps forget the Holy Spirit.

However, this Solemnity reminds us that Jesus did not leave us orphans when He ascended to Heaven- He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.  Yet, sadly, the Holy Spirit can be forgotten and/or ignored in our spiritual lives.  Yet, He has many special gifts to offer us.  We can have a very special intimate relationship with Him, just as we do with Jesus and with Father God.

The Holy Spirit can be for some of us, a poor second cousin to God the Father, or Jesus His Son.  However, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity-three persons yet one God as our Catholic Faith tells us.  Today's Gospel makes it perfectly clear that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus absolves us from our sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation in the person of the priest but where necessary, this grace can be retained as well. So we should not take God's forgiveness for granted.

WHY DO I NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The Holy Spirit needs therefore to be our best friend, since what He tells us is in direct harmony with Father God and Jesus His Son. Yet, the Holy Spirit will provide the graces and gifts that we need for our daily lives, just as He did with the disciples after Jesus had ascended to Heaven.  Remember Jesus ascended back into Heaven so that He could send the Holy Spirit- obviously Jesus in His wisdom thought it important enough for us.  It is through the Holy Spirit that the Church is guided, and we are in our personal prayer guided by Him too.  It is that quiet little voice that 

• prompts us to do the right thing and stand up for what we believe when it would easier to walk away,
• helps us examine our conscience of any wrong doing/sin/faults which we need to confess,
• guides us to do the will of God in our lives.
• is our consolation in times of grief and confusion.
• brings us a greater awareness and understanding of our faith
• supports us in our life journey and is our best friend.

Of course, there are the 7 traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit and the 12 fruits which emanate from them which we are given in a special way at Confirmation.  However, although we receive them then, we can always ask the Holy Spirit daily to increase in us these gifts and fruits, and supply for us what is lacking at our present time.  

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit gives each of us an extra special dose of the gift/s that we most need for our lives, a gift we use more often than the other gifts- for me, those extra doses of the gifts have been courage and perseverance. When life has been tough, I know with God's help that I can dig deep and draw on these gifts.   Perhaps, you may have had a similar observation in your life. Of course, we do not need to wait until life is tough, but we can draw on these gifts each day in our daily lives. As our lives change over the years, so do our need for different graces. So, we need to continue to ask the Holy Spirit to help us and provide the necessary gifts for our lives.

The Holy Spirit came to the disciples as promised by Jesus. They were no longer afraid but went out and preached the Good News.  On this feast of Pentecost, which is the birthday of the Church, she invokes the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on us, and with that, we can ask Him to provide the gifts/fruits we most need for our lives. We can be filled anew- a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful grace to receive again.  Let us be open to receive the Holy Spirit afresh in our hearts and to be eagerly awaiting to receive the gift/s He has to offer us on His special Feast- the feast of Pentecost.

However, this feast reminds us that Jesus did not leave us orphans when He ascended to Heaven- He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.  Yet, sadly, the Holy Spirit can be forgotten and/or ignored in our spiritual lives.  Yet, He has many special gifts to offer us.  We can have a very special intimate relationship with Him, just as we do with Jesus and with Father God.

So we might like to take some time to reflect on my relationship with the Holy Spirit.  Some reflective questions may include:

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. What is my relationship with the Holy Spirit? 

2. How does the Holy Spirit work in my life? 
3. How will I use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to bring Christ to the world this week? 
4. Do I know my faith adequately to be able to teach the gospel to one other person? If not, what steps might I take to change this? 
5. What areas in my life has the risen Christ renewed during Eastertide and how might the Spirit assist you to continue this renewal for the remainder of the year? 
6. How might I live in the power of the Holy Spirit in my life?

We may also want to reflect on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and how they operate in our lives.

Traditions/customs associated with Pentecost Sunday  

Fruit Salad is often used as a dessert for Pentecost Sunday. It is made from 12 fruits to represent the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit which are: Charity, Generosity, Joy, Gentleness, Peace, Faithfulness, Patience, Modesty, Kindness, Self-Control, Goodness and Chasity.

The fruit salad can be made using both dried fruits such as currants, raisins, dates and tinned fruits as well as fresh fruits. These are then combined with a syrup made with sugar and water and perhaps a dash of your favourite liqueur.

It is a great opportunity to use the making of the fruit salad into a quiz either for yourself to refresh in your mind the fruits of the Spirit and/or for younger members of the family. There is a huge variety of ways making the fruit salad can be made into a teaching of the faith opportunity in a fun way for the family.  What will you do?

Another name for Pentecost Sunday is its traditional name' Whitsunday' which commemorated the white robes worn by the newly baptised on this day.  Two other traditional desserts served therefore are white food-meringues (pavlova) or a sponge cake topped with white icing to represent the white robes worn by newly baptised.

Lamingtons with cream can be an ideal dessert with a small birthday candle in each to remind those sharing it to flame their faith and to enkindle it in the fire of His love.

The Prayer to the Holy Spirit can be an ideal prayer before meals on Pentecost Sunday so that when the dessert arrives with the candle, each person can renew in their hearts the joy of the Feast and keep it alive and active throughout the year.

Regardless of whether you choose these traditional Pentecost desserts or not, it is important to remember that a new chapter began at Pentecost, and the Apostles started to take the Gospel of salvation to the whole world.  This is also our task.  Pentecost ends the liturgical season of Eastertide, but it marks the birthday of the Church.  

We may wish to pause and say a prayer of thanks in gratitude for the person/people who taught us our faith and have helped us on our spiritual journey.  We may wish to reflect on how we came into the Church.  I was baptized as a young baby just 15 days old- a cradle catholic.  I thank my parents and godparents for bringing me into the family of the Church. However, at some point, we have to make our own decision to follow Christ and take our faith seriously.  This is the journey we all make each in our unique way.  The Holy Spirit is in this journey with us too.

The message of Easter and of the Church is not something meant to be kept to ourselves, rather it is the glorious news that we must take to everyone : the love of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the redemption of the human race.  

As we celebrate the Solemnity feast of Pentecost, let us be filled and renewed by the Holy Spirit.  We may wish to make the commitment to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit and to pray each day at least one prayer to the Holy Spirit such as: 

''Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful 

and enkindle in them the fire of Your love".

May the Holy Spirit bless you abundantly.

 

 

Collect for Ascension of the Lord Year A

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT

The Collect for the Ascension of the Lord in Year C is as follows:

Gladden us with holy joys, Almighty God,

and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving,

for the Ascension of Christ Your Son is our exaltation,

and where the Head has gone before in glory,

the Body is called to follow in hope. 

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.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged.

1. Why am I asking God to gladden me with holy joys?
2. Why should I rejoice with devout thanksgiving on this Solemnity?
3. What does the Solemnity of the feast of the Ascension mean to me?
4. How will this Solemnity affect this coming week in my life?
5. How will I prepare my spiritual plan for this coming week?
6. How might I live in the glory and hope of the Ascension this week? 

 GOSPEL REFLECTION:

WHY IS THE ASCENSION SO IMPORTANT TO US?.

The Ascension of Our Lord is essentially a feast of hope since we can look forward to eternal life. We must however not sit on our hands and wait. Christ has given us His command and we need to live lives worthily, so that we can enter through the narrow gate.

The other beautiful aspect of the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord is that Christ goes back to Heaven.  We feel His absence and yet, He lives on here on earth in the presence of each of us.

Are we always aware of His presence to us?  How are we going to make His presence known to others?

THE FOUR-FOLD COMMAND OF CHRIST

Ascension of the Lord.

The four-fold command of Christ to His disciples is a command to us and gives us a mission- a focus.

• Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations,
• Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
• Teach them to observe all the commands I gave you
• Know that I am with you until the end of time.

So how can we make disciples of all the nations? We need to be ready with our answer should someone asks us for our reason for our belief. 

Most of us can evangelise others by not even saying a word- it is by the example of our lives we lead.

.  

Evangelization does not have to be difficult.  If we are trying our best to live good Christian lives, other people will be attracted to it. Then when a casual question or conversation occurs, it may be our time to speak.  More importantly it is a time to listen, since it is the question of the enquirer that is important.  As the journey unfolds, then there will be a time for them to want to be baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.  This will be God's timing, not ours, since it is God who is leading the person to Himself.  Then as their journey continues, it is time for learning and teaching (RCIA for example is part of the process), and as catholic pilgrims on the journey, we need to remember and encourage each other in our struggles knowing that Jesus is with us always.

So yes, the feast of the Ascension is a feast of hope of future glory. We need to have this hope in our hearts and try to live our lives now with our feet on the ground with this future glory in mind.

Collect for Sixth Sunday Eastertide.

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass  Collect Series Icon.

 

COLLECT

The Collect for the 6th Sunday of Eastertide reads as follows:

Grant almighty God,

that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy,

which we keep in honour of the Risen Lord,

and that what we relive in remembrance

we may always hold to in what we do.

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.

 REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. In making this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged.
2. What does Easter mean to me?
3. What is the quality of my worship to God?  Do I attend Mass because of the Sunday obligation or do I attend Mass to give God true worship?
4.  What might I change in the way I keep Sunday as the Lord’s day?
5.  How will I live my life this coming week in honour of the Risen Lord?
6. How is my faith and worship of God show in what I do during the week? Are they congruent?
7. Imagine what will be said about you in a eulogy by family/friends.  Will they recognise and acknowledge that Jesus is no 1 in your life or will  your Christian faith not be mentioned? Do your family/friends really know what matters in your life? What is it?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Jesus tells us that:

 If you love, You will keep my commandments. My Father will love You

and I will show Myself to You.

When we truly love someone, whether it be a spouse, child or best friend, we want the best for them so nothing is too much.  That is true love. We go the extra mile, we make sacrifices, we hold back the impatient word or hold back in love a word of advice because we know the receiver is not ready to hear it.  All these ways are acts of love.

However, as good as our acts of love might be, they are imperfect if we do not do it out of love for God first. Why, God gave us His only Son to save us and not only save us, Jesus died for us and for our sins and rose again so that we may regain our eternal reward.  This had been lost from the sins of Adam and Eve.

The other aspect to consider is that we need to know the commandments of God if we have any hope of keeping them.  Do you know the commandments of God?  During this pandemic, why not open the Catechism of the Catholic Church and learn the commandments and how to apply them to our lives.  If the Catechism of the Catholic Church seems confusing to read, why not use as an excellent starting point the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  It can be more user friendly.

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.  How often do we pray to the Holy Spirit, to acknowledge Him, to love Him and to seek His guidance?  Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit so that we are not left orphans. However, we do need to activate our faith from a position of love and desire for God.  God needs to be no 1 priority in our lives.  As we ponder this Gospel, we may wish to ponder these questions:

• Where do you place God in your priorities?
• Is God no 1 in everything you think, do and say?
• Do you respond to God out of love for Him?
• Do you desire to grow in your relationship with God? 

May we continue to grow in our relationship with God this coming week.

Collect for Fifth Sunday Eastertide.

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon. 

COLLECT

The Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Eastertide Year A reads as follows:

Almighty ever- living God, 

You constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us,

That those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism

 may, under Your protective care,

Bear much fruit and come to the joys of live eternal.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

One God for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.What does the Paschal Mystery mean to me?

2. How has God accomplished the Paschal Mystery within me during my life up to this point?

3. How will God accomplish the Pascal Mystery within me during this coming week?

4. What does Holy Baptism provide throughout my life?  Why not spend some time this coming week reading either Compendium of Catholic Church and/or Catechism of Catholic Church to understand more about the gift of Baptism.

5.Consider how God has protected You in my life. Have I acknowledged this protective care and said thank to God?

6.What fruits will I bear this coming week?

7. Why do I want to come to the joys of life eternal?

8 How can I live the joys of life eternal this coming week?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

In this time of pandemic or even at other times, we can feel alone, abandoned, fearful and desolate.  In these times, we may even doubt that Jesus is with us.  We might even feel that Jesus is not hearing our prayers, not listening or perhaps even does not care. We may feel that we do not know the way and have given up on life.

lighting a candle.

The truth from today’s Gospel is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the face of the Father and to know Him is to know the Father.   When we are fearful, alone, feel abandoned, desolate or have given up on life, we need to turn to Jesus because not only He is the Way, the Truth and the Life but  He is the light who will shine in our darkness, in our despair, in our bleakness.

Of course, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life always.  We need to turn to Him always, not just in difficult times.  Is Jesus no 1 in our lives?  Is Jesus our best friend whom we can share every detail of our lives with Him.  Yes, He knows before we share with Him, but nothing is too small for Jesus to know about us.  He wants to spend time with us too, because He made us in the image of likeness of God- in other words, in His own image.  How amazing!!

When truth these days has been resorted to relative truth, Jesus is Truth- absolute and unchanging, steady and compassionate.  When we are uncertain, we can ask Him to show us His truth. Jesus will give us enlightenment so that we will know with certainty His truth and His truth for our lives.

Jesus offers us eternal life.  Jesus is the Life.  Life with Jesus starts here on earth- imperfect because we, as His creatures are imperfect. Yet, Life with Jesus starts here when we place Jesus as no 1 in our lives.   Where is Jesus in our lives today? 

We are here to know, love and serve and be happy with Him for ever in Heaven. That is the purpose of life.  They are not my own words about the purpose of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us so. We need to draw near to Jesus and ask Him to help us to know Him better, to love Him and to serve Him. In doing this every day, we will also come to know a happiness in our souls that is a glimpse of what it may be in Heaven.  When we say the Our Father, we say

’ Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’.  Is this a reality for our lives? 

How do we response to this pandemic?  We can view it as a problem which is too big, to complicated, to difficult to solve or we can view the pandemic as an opportunity to view our lives totally- to take a stock take of both physical, emotional and especially our spiritual lives. We can use this time of lock down as a time to come to know, love and serve Jesus and we can use it to come to know Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Yes, these are uncertain times but we know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do not need to fear with Jesus as our best friend, our guide and our hope.  

May we all turn our lives to Him and come to Our Father through Jesus.

Chapter 1: Understanding the Genealogy of Jesus and the Dream of Joseph.

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW SERIES

The Bible: Gospel of Matthew Series Icon.

 

Welcome back to my Gospel of Matthew Series. During 2020, each week, I will write a post about the Gospel of Matthew as I review and explore each of the 28 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Matthew.  I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season of Year A.

In the last post we continued on with understanding the plan of Gospel of Matthew by unpacking the structure of the Discourses.

CHAPTER 1:THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS AND THE DREAM OF JOSEPH.

In today’s post we examine chapter 1.

Chapters 1-3 can be considered an introduction where Matthew sets the scene of his Gospel theme to show Jesus is both the continuation and fulfilment of the whole biblical story of God and Israel. His key themes are:

1.    Jesus is from the line of David.

2.     He is a new authoritative teacher like Moses.

3.     Jesus is God with us- Emanuel.

Now in Chapter 1 with the genealogy, he sets the scene and connects Jesus to the Old Testament by making it clear that Jesus is both from the messianic line from the son of David and  He is also a Son of Abraham which means that Jesus will bring blessings  to  all the nations. 

For us in our own time, we need to recall here that Abraham is our father in faith so by implication the blessings with be given to us also. We too need to be people of faith. Why not read my Genesis series to explore further the call of Abraham and why he is considered our father in faith.

By giving us the genealogy of Jesus, it also reminds us that Jesus came from a family- the Word Incarnate came from a family- some of His ancestors were considered dubious in their behaviours. In other words, Jesus did not come from a line of perfect individuals.

We too come from a line of ancestors. Some may influence for the better and others less so. Some may have even influenced us in a negative manner.

The important thing that the genealogy of Jesus teaches us for us today is that whatever our ancestral line, whether it is either good or bad or somewhere in between, we can learn from them and not necessarily become a victim of our ancestral line.  We can pray for our ancestors also and ask them to provide us with some wisdom too  

However, we do not need to have a victim mentality and be locked into behaviours that are not of God’s ways. No, we need to set our life and our behaviours according to God’s way. We can be trend setters and reverse the past whilst forging a brighter future for future generations.  In other words, we too can be a blessing for future generations as well as currently with the present generation in our family.

In Chapter 1 we are also told of the miraculous conception through the Holy Spirit of Jesus in Mary and how Joseph came to understand this through the dream He was given. 

Joseph was obedient to God and acted upon it straight away.  He did not procrastinate or ask a lot of questions to get himself out of a difficult situation- a situation he did not fully understand.  Yet, his faith was strong and he did what he was asked to do through the angel in the dream. Remember an angel is a messenger from God.

We may not have angels appearing to us in our dreams or perhaps we might.  However, we are often given many angels in our lives through other people who give us a clear direction or point the correct way.  We need to be alert to these situations. Test them yes, but also trust God in faith that He is providing the help we need.  This is particularly true when we are at a cross roads in our lives and making important decisions.

 We need to listen to Jesus and know His voice so that we can do what He asks of us straight away even when we do not know all of the fine print.  In fact, we may not get any fine print at all. but in our hearts/souls we know what we heard from God.  Therefore, especially at times like these, we need to follow it just like Joseph did.

So in chapter 1 as part of the overall introduction to Matthew’s Gospel, we already see these three arching themes (mentioned earlier).

The other point to consider is that the genealogy of Jesus is often read in Advent and on Christmas Eve. Initially we may come to Mass on Christmas Eve expecting to hear the Christmas story and do not understand why the Church has chosen the Genealogy as the Gospel reading.

Perhaps, having an understanding of Matthew’s themes in his Gospel may provide greater appreciation for this reading. More importantly, we may learn from it, use it wisely in our lives and receive the blessings which this chapter has to offer us through Jesus.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS/THOUGHTS

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?

• Imagine that you are Joseph ( - What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?

• Imagine being one of the ancestors of Jesus. What did this ancestor offer Jesus in His humanity?  

• What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus? What questions do I want to ask Him?

• Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching? 

• Is my faith in the divine power of Christ, whom we follow, large enough to make us ready to walking faithfully his ‘’way’’?

• In the light of this passage, how will you respond to Jesus as a true disciple?

• If a fellow parishioner had read this passage, what might he/she say about this passage?

• In the light of this Gospel passage what positive change will you adopt in your life and in your spiritual life.  How will you implement these changes?
  
  

Collect for 4th Sunday Eastertide: Good Shepherd Sunday.

COLLECT SERIES

COLLECT

The Collect for the 4th Sunday Eastertide reads as follows:

Almighty ever living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven,

So that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before.

Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.What does the joys of heaven mean to me?

2. Why do I want to share in the joys of heaven?

3. What does it mean to me to be part of the humble flock of Christ?

4. What does ‘brave Shepherd’ mean?

5.. How can I examine my life in the light of the Gospel? 

6. What do I need to change this coming week?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Have you ever thought of the qualities of a shepherd? If not, why not do some research this coming week. Alternatively, why not listen to the Homily here.  It is important to have a concept at least of the work of a shepherd to fully appreciate Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus also refers to Himself as the Gate.  If you think of the Gate, it provides us safety when we come in and also freedom and responsibility when we go out.  Jesus, as the Gate cares for us both in and out of the Gate.  The Gate also gives us a safe passage in and out.  We could climb the fence to get in or out- this could be dangerous. Or others could climb the fence/pen and disturb the flock.  No, with Jesus as the Gate, we have  a safe haven both in and out of the Gate because we have gone through with Jesus.  Jesus is the Gate.

Although these images of Jesus are important for us, the vital element in the Gospel is what Jesus as Good Shepherd or as the Gate has to offer us. Jesus wants us to have life and have it to the full.  Not sometime in the future if/when we come home to Him in Heave but right now on this earth.

Do we have a half empty or half full attitude?  Our response to this question can hinder or enhance our ability to do as Jesus asks of us i.e to have life to the full.  We may think that nothing is perfect on this earth and in a sense this is true.  However when we look at nature, the birds, a beautiful landscape or a sunset we see the grandeur of God- perfect in every way.

We may be so worried about our work, our family responsibilities, looking for work, finances and so forth that we miss the beauty of God around us even for a moment.  If we are able to stop and look even for a second, and breathe it into our spirits/souls, we can be lifted up by the experience and go through the day with a better more hopeful attitude. This is also true of our current situation in the world of Covid 19.  Many people are so stressed, worried and fearful that they are missing the blessings and opportunity for personal and community growth through this difficult time.

How often do we call our blessings which God gives every day?  Once we become conscious of these blessings, we start to live life to the full despite our worries and responsibilities.  The question is what is life to the full look like to us? What would it mean to me to live life to the full.  We need to know what is the vision of it and then we can go about to obtain it through the help of our Good Shepherd who will open the Gate for us to lead us to greener pasture.

Let us celebrate Jesus as Good Shepherd  today.

Some music links include:

He shall feed his flock from Messiah/ (Handel). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-bAXm-A3Ls

Sheep may safely graze ( JS Bach).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCyJvRaQ3Dg

The Crimond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWr0DrDewGM