The Churches of today are looking towards Pentecost Sunday, a festival with deep roots in Judaism, which describes a ‘power’ bestowed upon all, each one without exception....
Luke says, ‘They were all together in one place’. By ‘all ’, we may consider that this included the sons and daughters, male and female slaves, strangers, orphans and widows mentioned in Deut 16:11... In Acts 2: 17-18, all are empowered, not only the men and women, but also children and slaves....cf Luke Skywalker and ‘the Force’. Pentecost reminds us of the gift of the Spirit given to each one.... All are gifted with ‘the Force’. Such a gift carries with it a responsibility to listen and to do. ‘We will hear and we will do’ Exodus 19:8...
Maureena Fritz, NDS, Bat Kol Institute, Jerusalem.
May the Force be with us, The Tablet, 22 May, p 9
The Church, like Jesus, is meant to measure us at our tallest, to celebrate our divinity from the moment of our birth, to keep our focus on the beckoning horizons of possibility. It traces for us the hidden shape of God in all creation, the smile of God in all religions, the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in a world called the body of God. The Church is there to reveal to us another courageous way of living, a way of believing in the light, when it is still dark....
It is high time for another Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is too surprising, elusive and totally unpredictable to be contained in any institution. Like the wind – she is utterly free – free to sing of a God who has no favourites, who is passionate about our humanity, who forgets our sins and carries to a safe haven every single one of her children...
Daniel O’Leary Safe haven for the lost , The Tablet, 22 May, p14.
The prayers on Pentecost Sunday Liturgy alternate
between the breadth of the Spirit’s gifts
uniting all peoples of every nation
and the depth of the Spirit
which brings us in Christ
to share in divine life.
Daniel McCarthy
United in the Spirit
The Tablet, 22nd May, p16.
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