Pentecost Sunday

May is the Month of Mary, Dedicated to the Devotion of the Blessed Mother

In other years: Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1473-1541); Blessed Bartholomew Bagnesi, OP (1514-1577)

Memorial Day: Monday, May 29

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 7:10-18 Humility

Mass:  Acts 2:1-11; Resp Ps 104; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Squence Veni, Sancte Spiritus; Jn 20:19-23

Lord, send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

MARY, MOTHER OF DIVINE GRACE,

MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN,

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

HOLY SPIRIT, 

ENGRAVE YOUR LAW IN OUR HEARTS.

Peace be with you ...

Receive the Holy Spirit.

(Jn 20:19, 22)

Welcome to Pentecost Sunday, the fiftieth day. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. I believe, help my unbelief! There sure are plenty of things to today. One would be to pray with the Sequence Veni, Sancte Spiritus, which can be prayed after the second reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians and before the Gospel Acclamation. You just may find a phrase or two that fits whatever comes your way this week. Come, Holy Spirit, come! ... O most blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill! Or you can pray with the Litany to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, fire ever burning, have mercy on us.

One of my favorite readings used at Mass comes from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the third reading proclaimed at the Vigil Mass of Pentecost. It will surely bring a smile to your face and give you hope at the same time. Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the Lord ... From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life ... and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army (Ezk 37:4-6, 9-10). Google the YouTube of the Cathedral Quartet singing "Dry Bones." It is awesome. "Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones ... now hear the Word of the Lord ... Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone ... These bones, these bones, got up and walked around!”

Another favorite comes from the epistle also proclaimed at the Vigil Mass. It is not uncommon to hear people say that they don't know how to pray. And it is true - we don't! So Saint Paul reassures us: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And furthermore, the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will (Rm 8:26-27). It seems, then, that we are good to go. From our own will, deliver us, O Holy Spirit. 

And our voices for the week ... United in faith and prayer, we go forth. And we honor all the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Rest in peace. Love and life of saintly souls, have mercy on us.

Come, Holy Spirit, come, O God, love;

fill my heart, which, alas, is empty of all that is good.

Set me on fire to love you.

Enlighten me to recognize you.

Draw me [to you] to delight in you.

Affect me [to achieve] thorough fruition of you.

(Saint Gertrude the Great of Helfta, Spiritual Exercises, II, 32-37)

When the Spirit has been sent, the face of the earth is created and renewed: this means that our earthly will becomes heavenly, ready at a nod to obey more quickly than a nod. Blessed are people like this, for not only do they perceive evil, but they abide in a certain marvelous expansion of the heart.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153)

Uncage your heart, free your heart, let it be wild.

(Anonymous, on the tag of a Yogi teabag ☺)

May everyone be warmed and enlightened by the flame that burns in your heart and the light of your inner fire. 

(Saint Luigi Orione, 1872-1940)

Do not quench the Spirit.

(1 Th 5:19)

The first task of Christians is to keep alive the flame that Jesus brought to the earth, which is the love of God: the Holy Spirit. Without the fire of the Spirit, prophecies are extinguished, sorrow supplants joy, and routine substitutes love.

(Pope Francis, Twitter, May 26, 2023)

Pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit:

Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

So as to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit:

Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity.

COME, HOLY SPIRIT! FILL THE HEARTS OF YOUR FAITHFUL,

AND ENKINDLE IN THEM THE FIRE OF YOUR LOVE.

Grant, O merciful Father, that Your Divine Spirit may enlighten, inflame, and purify us, that He may penetrate us with His heavenly dew and make us fruitful in good works, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

BLESSED MARGARET POLE,

BLESSED BARTHOLOMEW BAGNESI,

POPE SAINT PAUL VI,

SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON,

BLESSED JOSEPH GERARD,

BLESSED ELIA OF SAINT CLEMENT,

BLESSED WILLIAM ARNAUD AND COMPANIONS,

SAINT ZDZISLAWA OF LEMBERK, OP,

SAINT LUKE KIRBY,

THE YORKSHIRE MARTYRS,

SAINT JOAN OF ARC,

SAINT WALSTAN,

BLESSED JAMES SOLOMONIO,

SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR,

SAINT MARCELLINUS AND PETER, MARTYRS,

SAINTS POTHINUS AND BLANDINA,

SAINTS CHARLES LWANGA AND HIS COMPANIONS,

SAINT KEVIN,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: How manifold are your works, O Lord. Rowena Crest, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Thank you, Maddy, avid hiker, photographer extraordinaire. Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

© Gertrude Feick 2023