Holy Spirit at Pentecost

My Dear Parishioners,

This Saturday, May 18^th, Archbishop Perez ordained 3 men to the priesthood for our Archdiocese. They are:  Rev.  Fr.  Bernard  Okechukwu Ekeagwu, 29, son of Sir Patrick C. Ekeagwu and Lady Esther Ekeagwu of Nigeria, and member of Saint Colman Parish in Ardmore; Rev. Fr. Gregory H. Miller, 26, son of George and Teresa Miller of Royersford, Pennsylvania, and member of Sacred Heart Parish; and Rev. Fr. Brendan R. Zehner, 30, son of Mark and Peggy M. Zehner of Glenside, Pennsylvania, and member of Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish. Please pray for them as they assume their first assignments. While we rejoice and celebrate the ordination of these three men, I need to point out that they still are not enough. Please pray for vocations. We are in serious need. It is a good idea to encourage young men you know to consider if they are being called to the priesthood. For more information about the Diocesan Priesthood in Philadelphia, visit http://www.heedthecall.org .

This weekend we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The word Pentecost comes from the word for 50. It is fifty days since we celebrated our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. Now we celebrate that the promised advocate or Holy Spirit comes to us to continue to reveal God to us, and to assist us in drawing closer to God. We need to learn to call upon and even depend more on the Holy Spirit. This is also the closing of the Easter season. After Pentecost we remove the Paschal candle from its prominent place in the sanctuary and return it to its place by the Baptism font. The Liturgical season that we will move into is called Ordinary Time and it allows us to reflect on the mysteries of Jesus’ daily life and public ministry. I found the following meditation on Pentecost online. To read the full meditation go to the Catholic Culture website: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-05-20

Pentecost is the feast of the visible mission of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, to the Church, to each Christian family, and to each individual soul. By virtue of His death on the cross, the Lord has merited the grace of the sending of the Holy Spirit. Now that He is in heaven He prays for and effects the coming of the Holy Spirit, that we may grow in grace and holiness, that we may be strong and firm in faith, that we may reach perfection and share in the inheritance of Christ our head.

We have been elevated to the divine life by Christ, but the Holy Spirit also took part in this operation. Where the Holy Spirit is not operating, there can be no body of Christ. “The faithful become members of the body of Christ when they attain life through the Spirit of Christ,” the Holy Spirit (St. Augustine). The divine life is always given through Christ, the incarnate God. When we allow Him to do so, He always sends us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love. This Spirit always binds us again firmly to the Father, so that we long and strive with all our strength to be true children of the Father and to attain to perfect love. Therefore the life of Christ which was implanted in our souls by baptism (Easter) cannot be made perfect without the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost).

Pentecost is the complement and the completion of Easter. Easter gives us the beginning of supernatural life and incorporation in Christ. But this new life must unfold; it must be strengthened and enkindled into a burning fire which can resist all things; it must be imbued with a love which is stronger than death, so that we are prepared to suffer all things Christ, even the sacrifice of our life. This strengthening of our spirit is brought about by our baptism with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The spirit of Pentecost is the spirit that makes the confessors and martyrs. It gives light, power, and unconquerable strength. This effect is visible in the apostles, who “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41).

The feast of Pentecost is a day of thanksgiving for the foundation of the Church, in which are contained all the treasures of supernatural riches, and through which all grace and redemption are given to men. Pentecost is a day of thanksgiving for the coming of the Holy Spirit and for the establishment of the sacrament of confirmation. It is a day on which we place a joyful and grateful trust in the operation of the Holy Spirit within us, and thank Him for His inspiration and guidance. On this day we again place ourselves in the hands of the Holy Spirit with complete confidence. He should be the soul of our souls; He should reign in us, amid the ruins of our own fallen nature. Pentecost is a day of petition, a day on which we should implore the Holy Spirit for a full measure of His graces and gifts.

God Bless You!
Fr. Bordonaro