Replies

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Blessed Holy Spirit, You are God’s presence within us, the faithful witness to God’s mighty works and the enduring promise of things yet to come. Come, breath of God, and dwell in us. By His death and resurrection, Jesus planted the seeds of eternal life. Now, through Your presence, we know the first fruits of the harvest to come. In Your love, strengthen us and prepare us for the coming wedding feast of Christ and His Church.

Through You, O Spirit, God’s word takes up residence in our hearts. You come to teach us God’s laws, transforming us day by day. Through You, we who once were condemned to death for our trespasses are redeemed and forgiven. We who were burdened by sin can now walk in freedom. We who deserved no mercy can now extend mercy freely to others.

Comforter, sustain us and encourage us in our daily walk. Help us understand the signs of the times. Be our teacher, writing the word of God on our hearts.

Faithful Counselor, lead all nations to God. Come afresh and fill the house of God with believers from every nation, race, and tongue. Make us into one body, united in our worship of the Lord. Prepare us, the bride, to take our place beside Jesus, our Groom. Overcome our natural differences as You did on the first day of Pentecost. Let everyone hear the Gospel in his or her native tongue and so receive new life. Break down barriers that keep us apart. Give us compassion.

O great Advocate, teach us to pray in every circumstance and for every need. Move us to intercede for one another, even for our enemies. Form the prayers within us and give us the words to say. Give us the courage to speak the Gospel in all situations and to all nations. Enable us to testify to the truth of Christ in our thoughts, words, and actions. Make us instruments of Your grace, vessels of clay filled with Your living water.

Come, Holy Spirit, reign within our hearts! Purify us and refine us! Empower us and use us! Live within us as You prepare us for our heavenly Groom. Amen.

Source: The WORD among us – May 1997.

Come Holy Spirit!

Pentecost Sunday

Pastor’s Column

May 19, 2013

One day (in a former parish), the youth minister ran up to me frantically, pleading with me to help her out of a bind. It turned out that she was scheduled to give a short talk on the Holy Spirit to her High School youth class and couldn’t think of anything to say at all! Looking back at this, it strikes me as funny, but how many of us could come up with even a five or ten minute talk on how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives?

One way for us to grasp at the nature of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit, is to realize that essentially each member is in an infinite and total relationship with each other. For example, the Father and the Son love each other so much that this love is a person: the Holy Spirit. In this sense, the Trinity and a human family are similar—the love of the parents (ideally!) is reflected in persons raised by both – the children.

Scripture makes it quite clear that we are meant to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and with each other. Relationships are nourished by our communications with others and by the thoughtful things we do for them, as well as what we are willing to suffer for them, and ultimately, by our commitment to them. Before I prepare or preach a sermon, hear confessions, or write a column, I always ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, that he will speak and act through me, and I invite you to do the same in your own lives. Many people say a prayer to the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the day (like “Come Holy Spirit!”), or when getting into a car, or before starting some task or before making a difficult decision.

The Spirit is responsible for many of the inspirations that we take for granted in our lives, and provides gifts for the church at large. Being a lector, Eucharistic Minister, teacher or even a priest, sister or deacon are only some of the gifts God has given to the church, but all of us have received the unique gift of ourselves and this is what God really wants from us. Everyone has gifts from the Spirit, and they are always meant for others, whether they are family, co-workers, people at church or strangers we meet or who are in need.

The Holy Spirit is often represented in Scripture as various mysterious (non-human) forms, such as a dove, tongues of fire, wind, or water. All of these are, of course, simply images that help us grasp through our human senses and imagination the Holy Spirit, which by its very nature is both invisible and thus unable to be directly seen. But you can sure tell when the Spirit is present and absent!

When the Spirit is absent, we see “sexual vice, impurity, sensuality, worship of false gods (such as money, sex, materialism, pleasure), sorcery, antagonism, jealousy, bad temper, quarrels, disagreements, factions, drunkenness and rivalries.” When the Spirit is present, we see the opposite: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and chastity (both lists from Galatians 5). Come Holy Spirit!

Father Gary