Send your Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth

Welcome to my blog. You will find the daily readings from the Bible which the Catholic Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has chosen and provides for our spiritual nourishment. If we use them seriously each day, we will grow in our relationship with God – ‘in whom we live, move and have our being’ – and come to know Jesus who loved us and gave his life for us on the Cross. He gives us life and gives it in abundance.

How to pray with the Bible. 1. Set aside a time each day when alone or in a group, you can in silence listen to God speaking to you. He speaks gently as with Elijah (1 Kings 19:12), Jesus, (Rev 3:20). 2.Sit comfortably where you will not be distracted or disturbed. You are to enter into the presence of God who loves and cares for you. 3.Pray for the Holy Spirit who teaches us how to pray (Rom 8:26-27). Ask Mary to intercede with her Son to send the Spirit upon you. (Luke 11:13). 4. Read slowly in the Spirit who inspired the reading, asking him to speak to you too. Phrases will strike you. “Speak Lord your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3:11). “All Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching… and instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16”. 5. Pray to Jesus with gratitude for the inspiration he has given you. 6. Go back in the Spirit of Jesus to your ordinary life.

Sunday 31 May 2020

Send your Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth

Rm 5: 5; cf. 8: 11

The love of God has been poured into our hearts

through the Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia.

____________________

Prayer

Father, as we celebrate the wonderful feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first disciples, we pray that we too may experience a new and dynamic Pentecost. Fill the Church throughout the world with the fire of the Holy Spirit and with his gifts so that you can renew the face of the earth through us. We make our prayer through your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.

First reading

Acts 2:1-11 ·

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’ THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

Today we look back at the origin of the Church. The disciples are all gathered in one place with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and they are in prayer. They are the disciples we know from the Gospels. They are ordinary men and women. The women had the courage to be on Calvary, but apart from the beloved disciple, the men were absent. They were not men likely to create a new world. Then the Spirit of God swept down upon them. They were transformed. Compare the Peter in the courtyard of Caiaphas with the Peter of Pentecost and afterwards. There is no comparison.

We tend to look back at the early Church with awe. So we should. They did mighty things. But they are not demi-gods. Every generation can receive the Holy Spirit as they did. Jesus will pour out his Spirit on the Church today as he did then. He will pour his Spirit on you too as he did on Peter and the others. You too can be transformed.  You will not do what Peter did. He was living then and you now. He in Palestine and you, wherever you are. But if we receive the Spirit daily, then through us he will bring about great change. Don’t let us despise what appears to be insignificant. A little vaccine for Covid-19 could transform life throughout the world. We don’t have it and so this is the world we are experiencing. Likewise, a new Pentecost in Catholic families and in Catholic parishes could also transform the world. Will it happen? It depends on you and me. I am the one responsible for my life. I must experience Pentecost and for that I must do what it takes. It takes prayer, surrender, a willingness to give up what I hold dear and follow inspiration. The transformation of the world begins with me. I must receive the Spirit as Peter did. Everything is the work of the Spirit, but he can only work through me, and you.

If you really want to be transformed to be an instrument of change, then you must pray earnestly every day for the Holy Spirit and be open to his inspiration.

Psalm (Make the psalm your inspired response to the Word of God)

Psalm 104:1,24,29-31,34

Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

Lord God, how great you are,

Bless the Lord, my soul!

How many are your works, O Lord!

The earth is full of your riches.

Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

!

You take back your spirit, they die,

returning to the dust from which they came.

You send forth your spirit, they are created;

and you renew the face of the earth.

Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the Lord last for ever!

May the Lord rejoice in his works!

May my thoughts be pleasing to him.

I find my joy in the Lord.

Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

____________________

Second reading

1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13

In the one Spirit we were all baptised

No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.

Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

The great truth that is almost unknown, unappreciated and therefore unlived and so ineffectual is that we as a group are the living Body of Christ. In verse 27 (not in today’s reading) St. Paul says: ‘Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it’. We cannot be and must not try to be ‘lone rangers’, going it alone. Each of us has an important role in the salvation of the world. Every part of our physical body contributes to its welfare. This is proved when even some ‘insignificant part’ gets hurt, be it your little finger or little toe or whatever. Likewise, in the Body of Christ. Each person has an important role to play. While we live, life flows through us and through each organ of our bodies. When our breath ceases, the organs of our body have no life in them and begin to decay. Likewise, the life of God flows through the Church community and through each member. If all the members have the life of God in abundance then the Church community, the living Body of Christ, is dynamically active. If some members do not have the life of God in them, then the Body is paralysed to that extent. The Body of Christ, the Church community, is for the salvation of the world. ‘As the Father sent me, so I am sending you’ (today’s Gospel). That is on a global level, but action is always on the local level, - Jesus acting through you and me here and now.

Do you realise that you are a living cell in the Body of Christ and that Christ the source of life in the Church community is working directly through you? To some extent you and I are Christ at work in the world.

Do you have a conscious relationship with Christ the source of life and the head? Do you consciously cooperate with him and allow him to work through you?

alleluia!

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 20:19-23

As the Father sent me, so am I sending you: receive the Holy Spirit

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained.’

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

Jesus’ natural life on earth is over. Like all of us humans, he lived a very limited life. he lived at a particular time and place with all the limitations of his day. He was a Jew of the first third of the first century in a small village and district in Palestine. However, he had come to save the whole world and human beings of all times. In his natural life this was impossible. He did, however, something that no one else could do. He lived a perfect human life and he obeyed God, his Father, even at the cost of his Passion and Death. At his death, he offered his life in reparation for the sins of the human race, to which he belonged. His life was so pleasing to God that as a result of his offering and prayer, the Father looking on him has forgiven all our sins and given us all the blessings of heaven (Ephesians 1:3). Everyone can now receive forgiveness and the supreme gift of God’s Holy Spirit by which they become like God, sharing his very life. In Jesus the Son, we are all sons.

Now his life’s work is achieved and his life in this world is over. But there is still much to be done. The knowledge of Salvation must be made known and offered to every individual throughout the world and throughout the ages. Everyone, everywhere, must have the opportunity to receive salvation and be recreated as God’s sons and daughters in Jesus.

Today, on the day of his Resurrection, Jesus gives this work to his disciples. They are to continue his work. They are to offer forgiveness to all sinners and give them the Holy Spirit.

This cannot be done without the Holy Spirit – no one can proclaim that Jesus is Lord and God, unless through the inspiration and grace of the Holy Spirit.

We all share in this mission of the Church. Do you pray daily for the conversion of people? Do you live a life of witness before others? Do you let them see your good works, so that they may glorify the Father and his Son, Jesus? Is there any counter witness in your life?

   

Acts 2: 4, 11

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and spoke of the marvels of God, alleluia.

____________________

Prayer

Father, you bestow divine gifts on your Church for the salvation of the world. Through their cooperation with the Holy Spirit, may the members of the Church use these gifts with great effect to bring the world to the feet of Jesus. We make our prayer through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.

_________________________________________________________________________

The hymn to the Holy Spirit is part of the Mass today. We can fruitfully use it as a prayer for the Spirit. When we pray for the Spirit to come on us, we should desire and expect the Spirit to come with power.

Holy Spirit, Lord of Light,

From the clear celestial height

Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, thou Father of the poor,

Come with treasures which endure

Come, thou light of all that live!

Thou, of all consolers best,

Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,

Dost refreshing peace bestow

Thou in toil art comfort sweet

Pleasant coolness in the heat

Solace in the midst of woe.

Light immortal, light divine,

Visit thou these hearts of thine,

And our inmost being fill:

If thou take thy grace away,

Nothing pure in man will stay

All his good is turned to ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew

On our dryness pour thy dew

Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will

Melt the frozen, warm the chill

Guide the steps that go astray.

Thou, on us who evermore

Thee confess and thee adore,

With thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give us comfort when we die

Give us life with thee on high

Give us joys that never end.