Come Holy Spirit: A New Beginning

 Come Holy Spirit Series

Come Holy Spirit Series

Come Holy Spirit: A New Beginning

Looking Back — and Looking Forward

Just over a year ago, during the Easter Octave, we began a journey together called Come Holy Spirit.

Week by week, we explored the many ways the Holy Spirit works in our lives. We reflected on:

• The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
• The Fruits of the Holy Spirit
• The Names and Titles of the Holy Spirit
• The Spirit's action in our lives through Revelation, Reminding, Dwelling Within, Transformation, and Sending

Along the way, we discovered that the Holy Spirit is not simply a theological concept or a distant figure of faith. The Holy Spirit is God's living presence within us — teaching, guiding, strengthening, comforting, transforming, and sending us forth as disciples of Christ.

As we celebrated Pentecost, our journey reached a natural milestone. But it did not reach an ending.

Because life in the Spirit is never finished.

 

The Journey Continues

Now that we have entered Ordinary Time, it seems fitting to begin a new phase of our journey.

Ordinary Time is sometimes misunderstood. There is nothing "ordinary" about it in the sense of being dull or unimportant.

Rather, it is the season in which we learn how to live as disciples day by day.

The great feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost have been celebrated. Now comes the invitation to allow those mysteries to shape our daily lives.

And so, in the weeks ahead, we will continue to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit — this time through the lens of the Sunday Gospel.

 

A New Question

Each week we will ask:

What is the Holy Spirit doing in this Gospel?

We will look beyond the events of the story and seek the deeper invitation of the Spirit.

• What is the Spirit revealing?
• What is the Spirit teaching?
• What is the Spirit asking us to notice?
• How might the Spirit be inviting us to respond during the coming week?

The goal remains the same as it has always been:

To know the Holy Spirit more deeply.

To become more attentive to His presence.

To grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

Walking With Jesus in Ordinary Time

The Holy Spirit always leads us to Jesus.

As we journey through the Sunday Gospels during Ordinary Time, we will walk alongside Christ and ask the Spirit to open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we pray that our hearts may burn within us as the Scriptures are opened and explained.

The Holy Spirit who inspired the Gospel writers is the same Spirit who speaks through the Gospel today.

The question is not whether the Spirit is speaking.

The question is whether we are listening.

 

Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit.

As we begin this new stage of our journey, open our hearts to Your presence.

Help us to hear Your voice in the Sunday Gospel.

Teach us to recognise Your promptings in our daily lives.

Lead us ever closer to Jesus.

May Ordinary Time become a season of extraordinary grace as we learn to walk more closely with Christ and listen more attentively to Your guidance.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Lead us forward.

Amen.

 For Reflection This Week

• What has been the most significant insight or grace from the Come Holy Spirit series so far?
• How has my understanding of the Holy Spirit grown over the past year?
• What am I hoping the Holy Spirit will teach me during this new phase of the journey?

 

Next Week:

Come Holy Spirit: Walking with Jesus in Ordinary Time