Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Pentecost is the beginning of something new for us. For this feast celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised as our advocate and comforter, as the one who empowers us and guides us as we attempt to live out our Christian lives throughout our pilgrimage on this earth.

As we have read in the Scriptures in the previous weeks following the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles and disciples were often left confused and troubled. They went back to their fishing boats and took up where they had left off when Jesus first summoned them. They would gather to remember him, but they did so behind locked doors because they were sad and fearful.

However, before Jesus left the apostles, he promised that he would send the Holy Spirit upon them. Now those same confused and troubled men, fearful and weak, are touched. Something new happens to them – it’s not merely the words of Jesus that fill their minds and hearts, it’s the spirit of Jesus that takes hold of them and makes them bold.

This transformation in the lives of the apostles indicates that discipleship does not consist simply in knowing what Jesus taught. We become true disciples when the Spirit of Jesus takes hold of us and turns our knowledge and our feelings into action, into choices that are emboldened with a courage that we did not know we had. We become inspired and passionate to share the joy of the gospel and our hopes for the future. 

This is the Spirit that helps us to stand up with fortitude, to speak with wisdom and that sends us forth with conviction to live the Gospel with integrity, faithful to what we believe. It is the Spirit that emboldens us to speak the truth even when it is not well received, and it is the Spirit that counsels us how to do all of this with reverence and respect, with gentleness and compassion. 

Amen. 

Peace and good, 

Fr. Jimmy