Pentecost Sunday/Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

May is the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings for the Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week:  Ch 4 The Tools for Good Works - Ch 6 Restraint of Speech

Lord, send forth your Spirit.

MARY, MOTHER OF HOPE,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 

gentleness, self-control.

(Galatians 5:22-23)

Welcome to Pentecost Sunday in the month of May dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. And we are certainly going to need mercy as we move this week with Saint Benedict's Chapter 4 on the Tools for Good Works. So, let us "never lose hope in God's mercy" (RB 4:74). 

On this Pentecost Sunday and entrance into Ordinary Time once again, allow the Holy Spirit to stir you, rouse you, inspire you to turn from evil and do good, as, in the words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, "The Holy Spirit must teach us how to carry out in action, the good that is inspired, or grace in us shall remain void." The Holy Spirit will change your heart and mind if you let Him in. Uncomfortable, antsy, not particularly enjoying the Spirit-filled ride? Well, feel the breath of God and receive the Holy Spirit (see John 20:22). As we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit (see Gal 5:25). Yes, "Jesus is Lord" (see 12:3b).

 

Our voices this week are varied as we go forth and profess with all the faithful, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life" (The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed). 

The Holy Spirit is the one who moves us forward, who helps us progress, who enables us to develop Christian life ... The Holy Spirit gives us the courage to live the Christian life, and for this reason, with this courage, it changes our lives. Listen to the Spirit, pray to the Spirit, and if it's Him changing your life, trust the Spirit.

(Pope Francis, Vigil Mass of Pentecost, Verona, Italy, May 18, 2024)

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 no evil, but they abide in a certain marvelous expansion of heart.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153)

We say that we must seek God, go to Him to ask for forgiveness, but when we go, He is waiting for us. He is first! ... You go [a] sinner, but He is waiting to forgive you.

(Pope Francis, Vigil of Pentecost, May 18, 2013)

Pour into our hearts your Holy Spirit, that you may keep us in unity of spirit and the bond of peace.

(Aelred of Rievaulx, 1110-1167)

Let the dove, I say, come with the olive branch, 

proclaiming peace with this branch that speaks of renewal and light.

(William of St. Thierry, 1075/80/85-1148, On Contemplating God)

Everyone has his or her own personality, and this can make it very difficult to live together. But "difficult" does not me "impossible"; otherwise Jesus never would have prayed: 

That they all may be one! ...

In the face of difficulties, I will not break, I will imitate the rushes and reeds, each one leaning toward the other-heart to heart, united in love; mind to mind, united in intelligence-so as to be able to reflect together and find the truth. 

(Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, 1928-2002)

O Spirit of truth, make me know your Word; teach me to remember all He has said; enlighten me, guide me, make me conformable to Jesus as an alter Christus, another Christ, by giving me His virtues, especially His patience, humility, and obedience; let me take part in his redemptive work by making me understand and love the cross.

(Sister Carmela of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D., 1910-1949)

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH,

SAINT BERNADINO OF SIENA,

BLESSED COLUMBA RIETI OP,

SAINT CHRISTOPHER MAGALLENES AND HIS COMPANIONS, 

SAINT EUGENE DE MAZENOD,

SAINT RITA OF CASCIA,

SAINT JOACHINA DE VEDRUNA DE MAS,

OUR LADY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS,

BLESSED LOUIS-ZEPHERIN MOREAU,

SAINT ALDHELM,

SAINT DOMINIC,

POPE SAINT GREGORY VII,

SAINT MARY MAGDALEN DE'PAZZI,

SAINT EUPHROSYNE OF POLATSK,

SAINT JANE ANTIDE THOURET,

SAINTS DONATIAN AND ROGATION, MARTYRS,

SAINT BEDE THE VENERABLE,

POPE SAINT GREGORY VII,

SAINT CUTHBERT,

SAINT MARY MAGDALENE DE PAZZI,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: And renew the face of the earth.

© Gertrude Feick 2024

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

Pentecost Sunday

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

The Fiftieth Day

In other years: Saint Boniface, Apostle of Germany, Bishop and Martyr (675?-754)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 7:52-54 Humility

Mass: Acts 2:1-11; Resp Ps 104; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Rm 8:8-17; Squence Veni, Sancte Spiritus; Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 14:15-16, 23b-26

Pleasing to Him be my theme.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

HEART OF JESUS, ONE WITH THE FATHER AND THE SPIRIT,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

Happy Pentecost Sunday! First, put yourself in this scene, gathered in one place with the faithful, as we are, and suddenly there comes from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it fills the entire house in which we are. Then there appears to us tongues as of fire, which part and come to rest on each one of us. And we are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enables us to proclaim ... (Acts 2:1-4). Some may scoff at us and think we've had too much wine (Acts 2:13). We know, however, that is not the case. Open the door of your heart and let the Holy Spirit in. For no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3b). Receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22), says the Lord. The Holy Spirit whom the Father sends in my name, will teach you and remind you of all that I tell you (Jn 14:26). 

In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course ...

Let us preach the whole of God's plan to the powerful and to the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season ...

(From a letter by Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr, in Office of Readings, June 5)

SAINT BONIFACE,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: This one, along the Pentecost theme, comes from faithful Catherine, who comes through just at the right moment. O most blessed Light divine.

© Gertrude Feick 2022

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Month of May Dedicated to Our Lady and a “Marathon” of Prayer to End the Pandemic 

Other saints: Saint Dunstan (909-988); Saint Milburga (c.715); Saint Ivo or Yves (1253-1303); Blessed Raphael Louis Rafiringa (1856-1919); Saint Francis Coll Guitart OP (1812-1875)

Readings of the Day

RB: 4:1-21 The Tools for Good Works

Mass: Acts 20:28-38; Resp Ps 68; Jn 17:11b-19

Show forth, O God, your power.

JESUS, SON OF THE LIVING GOD,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

In today's Gospel, Jesus continues His great prayer (Jn 17:1-26). He prays to His Father for His followers, who do not belong to the world any more than Jesus belongs to the world (Jn 11:14). Jesus does not want His Father to take His followers, including us, out of the world, but that His Father keep us from the evil one (Jn 17:15). Yes, we are in the world. Knowing that, Saint Benedict, in today's passage from the Holy Rule, tells us that our "way of acting should be different from the world's way" (RB 4:20). And how will you make your way of acting different from the world's way? All of us can look to Saint Benedict's tools for good works for many ways to act differently from the world. First and foremost, we are to love the Lord God with our whole heart, our whole soul and all our strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves (RB 4:1). We can honor everyone and never do to another what we do not want done to ourselves (RB 4:8-9). We are to speak the truth with heart and tongue (RB 4:28). Jesus prays to His Father for us: Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth (Jn 17:17). 

We continue in prayer these days leading to Pentecost. After all, as Pope Francis said today in his on-going catechesis on prayer at the weekly General Audience, "believers never stop praying!". Come, Holy Spirit, come.

When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send you, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me, and you also will bear witness, says the Lord, alleluia.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)

SAINT DUNSTAN,

SAINT MILBURGA,

SAINT IVO OR YVES,

BLESSED RAPHAEL LOUIS RAFIRINGA,

SAINT FRANCIS COLL GUITART,

SAINT JOSEPH,

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: More beauty from Whitethorn School.

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Pentecost Sunday

Readings of the day: RB 4:22-43

Sunday Mass: Ac 2:1-11; Resp Ps 104; 1 Co 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Ga 5:16-25; Sequence (Veni, Sancti Spiritus); Jn 20:19-23

 

Icon by Isaac Fanous, St Peter and St Pauls Coptic Orthodox Church

RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

Feel the energy in the room: They were all in one place together. Suddenly, there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

We have received the same Holy Spirit. Each one of us has received different kinds of spiritual gifts, one of one kind and one of another (1 Co 7:7). We are meant to bear fruits of

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Which fruit will you share with your brothers and sisters today?

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

ALLELUIA.

Holy Spirit, you sustain the Church, come down upon us again, teach us unity, renew our hearts, and help us to love as Jesus taught us.

(Pope Francis, Twitter, May 20, 2018)