Fully Alive
Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ,
Today the Church celebrates the great feast of Pentecost. Jesus, after his resurrection, told his disciples that he would send them an Advocate, “the Spirit of Truth” and that this Advocate would “guide them to all truth.”
Fifty days after that first Easter, while the apostles, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, were gathered in the upper room where Jesus had celebrated the “last Supper” there came suddenly “from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house…. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit” (see Acts 2-4a).
We sometimes refer to that first Christian Pentecost as the “birthday” of the Church, because it was on that day that the Church took on a new life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in his bodily form, had formed and guided the first disciples but when he ascended, the Lord was taken from the apostles’ sight. It was in the powerful gift of the Holy Spirit that a new breath of life was breathed into the infant Church and it “came alive,” so to speak.
The Church, animated by the Holy Spirit enthusiastically began to announce the Good News of Jesus to the world. Despite worldly opposition, those first disciples, under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God, courageously witnessed to God’s love and truth that was revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Please continue to pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church today, so that we may continue in our homes, among our family and friends, at our places of work and in the public square to announce with courage, joy and great hope the message and Good News of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
