Pentecost Sunday – Cycle A
A PENTECOST SEQUENCE
Come, oh Holy Spirit, come!
And make us ever more your own.
In flooded farmlands, send relief.
And where faith falters, send belief.
Where tornados maim and kill
Let us feel your presence still.
Touch the unemployed once more
With strength to find that open door.
And where assassins lurk and prey
Bring them to the light of day.
Touch our own hearts too, we pray
To see the ways we’ve turned away.
The blind eye cast, the hardened heart,
Help us, Spirit, see our part.
Renew the earth, renew us too!
In Jesus’ name, we beg of you.
In what ways can you sense the gifts of the Holy Spirit active in your life?
What would YOU like to say about this question, or today’s readings, or any of the columns from the past year? The sacred conversations are setting a Pentecost fire! Register here today and join the conversation.
I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).
Eleven years ago, my son was fighting leukemia. He was given a 30 percent chance of surviving the bone marrow transplant without which he was given a zero chance of living. He did not survive the treatment.
Following the transplant, he was exhausted, and was being kept up late at night by his wife of a few months, his dad and his dad’s wife. When the nurses wanted him to get up and walk during the day, he could hardly stay awake. One morning, about a half an hour after he had trudged around the pod at the insistence of one of the nurses, another nurse came to hang a bag of magnesium on his IV pole. He thought she wanted him to get up and walk, so he threw the covers off, grabbed the IV pole and headed out of his room. His wife followed him and after a couple of minutes, she stomped back into the room, plopped down into a chair, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.
I got up and went to talk to Curt. I put my arm around his shoulder and walked with him. He told me firmly that he didn’t want to talk to me, either. I told him that he didn’t have to talk, we would just walk, which we did until I could feel that he had calmed down. I told him that the second nurse wanted to hang the magnesium, and we returned to his room. When the nurse finished, Curt sat up and hugged his knees. He began to sob. His wife just sat there glaring at him. I grabbed a Kleenex and gave it to him to wipe his nose. She looked disgustedly at him and stomped out of the room.
“I am so mad at her,” he told me. “I told her that I didn’t want to talk to her, and she just kept after me. I told her to leave me alone, and she screamed, ‘Then you can walk alone and you can die alone!’
I calmly told him, “Curt, you need to cut her some slack. She’s not used to being your wife, and this is difficult for everyone.” Then, I looked behind me to see who was talking, because what I wanted to do was hunt her down and kill her for hurting my baby.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit gave me those words to speak — they were what Curt needed — not my anger toward her.
Thank you Brebis for sharing your heartbreaking, beautiful story with us!
There have also been times in my life when I have wanted to hurt someone who has hurt me, and I know that only with the grace of God and the touch of the Holy Spirit I did not.
For the Gifts of counsel, Awe, humility..Thank you Holy Spirit!
Come Holy Spirit, Renew the face of the earth!
Veni Sante Spiritu…
On Pentecost Monday, I had my annual evaluation by my superior. At that meeting, I was informed that an accusation of insubordination had been lodged against me. I believe that I was able to defend myself that day by virtue of the gift of the Holy Spirit because it was such an impromptu affair. I needed to share this to glorify this Third Person of the Trinity whom I talked to less frequently than Jesus and His Dad.
AND many thanks to Brevis for sharing this edifying and inspiring story. – – Cris
At this point in my life, I think the gifts of the Spirit are being made manifest in the Body of Christ, in the people God sends me to soothe my wounded heart and my suffering soul. The gifts come in the wisdom of kind words spoken and even more through profound listening. Gentle lovers of God show up in my life and are present to me. Is this not the presence of the Breath of God moving in my life?