Pentecost Sunday. Year A - Sunday, May 31, 2020
From Surfers Paradise Catholic parish.
Readings for 7th Sunday of Easter A
FIRST READING: Acts 1:12-14
Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8. "Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth."
SECOND READING: 1 Pet 4:13-16
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. John 14:18). Alleluia, alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love.
GOSPEL: John 17:1-11a
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed stock illustration ID: 647637157. Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Abstract modern religious digital illustration background. By "Thoom."
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Please listen to our local audio recordings of the Mass, including readings, prayers and reflections for Pentecost Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, May 31, 2020, by clicking this link here https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/easter-pentecost-a-2020-episode-231 (EPISODE:231)
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Prologue: PENTECOST
The Easter Season comes to an end this weekend with the Great Feast of Pentecost. The-descent-of-the-Holy-Spirit upon Christ's disciples. Jesus is now very much present, and powerfully active, through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the church and in his followers of every time and place.
We the followers of Christ, continue the wonderful work of the Kingdom. We do this work in tangible ways - putting into action the "warming breath" of God's Spirit of justice, love and practical care... "God-breathed into the first Human being the day of our creation. The book of Genesis tells us that the Lord put his lips to ours and breathed in us and gave us his spirit of life. And so we became human beings. And John tells us that on the day of Pentecost, the risen Lord breathed on us a second time and gave us new life. After receiving the Holy Spirit, courage replaced caution, and a "fire" was lit in our hearts that scatters the darkness of fear forever. We, like those first disciples, are now a new creation. We have been called to live an "heroic life, " and to be instruments of God's peace and mercy in this beautiful and broken world."
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Fr Peter's Homily: Pentecost Sun A - 2020
Pope Leo XIII said: "Whatever we are, that we are by the divine goodness' and this goodness is specially attributed to the Holy Spirit."
One of the common threads in funeral eulogies is to tell the congregation where and when the deceased was born. A lot of the content refers to their early days. How they came to be the people that we honour today. They refer often to humble beginnings, where family and friends were the principal focus and sometimes faith enters into their life as a foundation for the life to come. It is particularly engaging when the eulogist speaks of the failures as well as the successes in the person's life. They become real and identifiable. We know then that the deceased lead an authentic life that we can all identify with.
This feast of Pentecost is a time also to reflect on the origins of the Church, of its equally humble beginnings with the twelve in the locked room and the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is a time to reflect on the Church's history, its moments of crisis, its moments of division, its moments of success as it spread throughout the known world and of the spiritual battles it has faced with its opponents throughout the ages. Pentecost recalls the authentic life that Christianity has lived and reminds us of the part we have played in that life.
Much has happened since that first Pentecost, but the commission given to the members of the Church today is still the same as that given to the twelve. Our responsorial psalm sums it up when it ways, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth'.
We have inherited this rather daunting task and today we face the challenge of presenting the richness of our tradition in a way that modern women and men can understand. The task is daunting because we all fear rejection and being ignored. Even worse we fear people thinking us foolish and naïve. We have convinced ourselves that it is better to be half-hearted about our faith and be thought a fool than to speak about it and remove all doubt.
It is a difficult conflict to feel personally strong about something, but fear not having the courage or the knowledge to speak about it to others. If we really believed it was 'good news' then why wouldn't we want to share it with others?
The disciples gathered in the closed room on that first Easter day knew his tomb was empty' they knew of Mary's encounter with Jesus. They must have been utterly confused and disoriented. They feared punishment as known associates of Jesus. Now they were afraid of the empty tomb implications. The sudden appearance of Jesus among them must have been disconcerting. Jesus understood their fear. He reassured them with his message of peace. How were they to know that this Jesus was their recently crucified Lord? Jesus showed them his hands and his side. This proof filled them with joy. Again Jesus wished them peace. Then he commissioned them. He breathed upon them and invited them to receive the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sin.
The Spirit was evident in the disciples after the first Pentecost by the manner in which they spoke of the marvels of the Lord and were understood by people of many different nationalities and languages. Their fear was transformed into courage. The Spirit-filled them with the fire and the passion of conviction. Those who witnessed this Pentecost event were at first bewildered. As they heard the apostles' message their mystification changed to astonishment and amazement. The wonder and awe paved the way to conversion and belief.
One clear feature of the good news this Sunday is that the Spirit is on the side of diversity, but it is wondrous and marvellous diversity, because the more the Spirit helps us find out who we are, the more we become ourselves, the more we connect and become one with the Spirit given to all.
Sadly our Church has often failed to live out the great vision of Pentecost, the vision of unity and diversity. The free breath of the Spirit breathed into all has often been too much to bear.
We build our new towers of Babel, setting up empires that control and bring about a crushing uniformity and anonymity. We often tragically fail to see that uniformity is not unity. In cults - to celebrate personal identity is heresy, people become like copies of each other, thinking the same, speaking the same like so many clones of the authority figures they idolise, but they are inferior and very dependent clones. Such cults are often secular, some are extreme, some are more subtle and harder to recognise. Our church does not, on the other hand, endorse rampant individualism but a true individualism of dignity, interdependence and colourful variety that makes up a rich and glorious whole.
Ultimately the work of achieving unity and diversity is the work of reconciliation. One, because the more we become truly ourselves, the more we truly reflect the face of Christ to our world. Two, because the one thing that people find hardest to do is to live together in unity and peace. The Spirit gives us the power to make a difference.
The church both evangelises and is evangelised. Conversion leading to faith in Christ is the basis of the Christian life, not just for those joining our community, but for all, but most especially for those whose lives have closed them off to knowing how the spirit of God can work in and through them.
As the poetic sequence of Pentecost that this is a time to:
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.
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References:
fr. Peter Dillon
Prologue: Paul W. Kelly
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed stock illustration ID: 647637157. Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Abstract modern religious digital illustration background. By "Thoom."
Pentecost Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A (Sunday, May 31, 2020) (EPISODE: 231 )
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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{{Happy Pentecost to you all. This is such a wonderful feast day, celebrating the birthday of the Church... when, as promised, Our Lord Sent the Holy Spirit from his Heavenly Father... to fall upon the apostles and ensure Christ's presence is in and among his followers of every generation... giving fruitfulness to all we do and say in the name of Christ.. and carrying on Christ's work in us all.... Peace and Goodness to you all}}
my brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.
Lord Jesus, you have revealed yourself as the way to the Father: Lord, have mercy
You have poured out on your people the Spirit of truth: Christ, have mercy
You are the Good Shepherd, leading us to eternal life: Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
2. When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
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PREFACE: Pentecost
Eucharistic Prayer III
Communion side. pwk: LH
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{Thanks everyone - With today's feast of Pentecost.. this brings our easter season to a close... and ordinary time resumes from this Monday...... with the very fitting new Feastday of Mary the Mother of the Church.... , and have a grace-filled and compassion-filled week. And may God continue to bless and protect us all.
Go forth, the Mass is ended. Alleluia alleluia.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)
"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.
Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).
Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The ….Gloria, copyright 2011 ccwatershed.org.
-Come Holy Spirit Hymn: inspired by the Hymn by Rabanus Maurus (9th century). Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2020. Sound effects by Mark DiAngelo,
May God bless and keep you.
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