Pentecost
Reflection
“Pentecost is the wonderful story of God’s Spirit always present, always active
in human development and given total and free expression in human form by Jesus of Nazareth. It is the amazing story of people coming to awareness through reflection on the life of Jesus that the same Spirit who moved in him moved in them. They realized it was now their responsibility to give witness to the Spirit in their lives as totally and as freely as Jesus had. Pentecost is the wonderful good news that all people who live in love live in God and God lives in them. Pentecost presents a challenge to humanity. What would life on earth be like if the actions of all people were motivated by their awareness of being “temples of God’s Spirit”?
Michael Morwood
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
Action
I will meditate on how my life would change if I truly realized I am a “temple of God’s Spirit”.
Suggested Reading
But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
John 15:26-27;16:12-15
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:1
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
The Holy Spirit transforms and renews us, creates harmony and unity, and gives us courage and joy for mission.
Pope Francis
The Spirit of God dwelling in the world with quickening power deconstructs dualism and draws in its place a circle of mutuality and inclusiveness. Instead of matter being divorced from spirit and consigned to a realm separate from the holy, it is an intrinsic part of the cosmic community, vivified, indwelt, and renewed by the Creator Spirit.
Elizabeth Johnson
The Spirit breathes life into the universe and all its creatures. The story of the Spirit begins not with Pentecost but with the origins of the Big Bang.
Denis Edwards
The word “Comforter” as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally, it means “with strength.” Jesus promised His followers that “The Strengthener” would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.
E. Paul Hovey
Pour on us your living spirit in all ways, always.
Andrew Tanner
The Holy Spirit establishes the righteousness of heaven in the midst of the unrighteousness of earth.
Karl Barth
Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power.
J. Hudson Taylor
Pentecost is an invitation to dream. For when a community of faith quits dreaming dreams, it has little to offer either its members or the wider world. These dreams involve adopting a new perspective on what’s possible, rousing our creativity to free us from conventional expectations. They help us see that maybe what we thought was outlandish actually lies within reach.
Matthew L. Skinner
Pentecost has not created an alternative mythology with which to secularize and commercialize it. It has not created a figure like a fat, jolly man in a red suit or a large bunny. Stores don’t stock special items for the Feast of Pentecost. In fact, the Feast of Pentecost comes and goes in the church year without the world even noticing.
Mark Surburg