Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15

Pentecost Sunday- Come Holy Spirit Come!!

In the older translation of the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer we prayed: And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him (Jesus) he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace.

These words tell us of the importance of this feast. The grace of the Holy Spirit living in us gives us the strength to live for Jesus, to make him the centre of our lives and by so doing helping us to discover who we really are. It is only by living in a deep communion with Jesus that we come to understand our deepest longings and desires. Jesus takes nothing from us that is truly ours but purifies us from wrong notions about ourselves. We do not discover ourselves alone, as so much of modern thought tells us, but rather we discover ourselves in communion, fundamentally the communion of God. Jesus teaches us in this Sunday’s Gospel: But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth.

This call to communion in love is the whole desire in the heart of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is that communion of love in the heart of the Blessed Trinity and Jesus came to bring us into that deep communion. All he did while on earth was to bring us into the love his Father has for him and he love for his Father, and this is the Holy Spirit.  “He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine”, here our Blessed Lord is telling us that the love he has from the Father and for the Father is the Holy Spirit. So when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we are filled with this love, this love that allows us to live as true children of God.

(Nine days of Prayer) There is the tradition in the Church of praying novena, nine days of prayer. This tradition comes from the time spent in the Upper Room from Ascension Thursday until Pentecost Day. On the day of his Ascension Jesus told his disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit, and we are told that the whole body of believers, in communion with Mary the mother of the Lord, united in prayer until the coming of the Holy Spirit. This period was nine days.

Fr John Harris OP