Message for Sunday, July 2, 2023 – Pentecost 5
My Dear Brothers & Sisters,
The period after Pentecost Sunday each year is, among other things, focused around the activity and presence of the Holy Spirit. One of the activities associated with the Holy Spirit is that of counselling. May I suggest that in our context of confusion, family and relational conflicts, challenged with decision-making, makes this activity of the Holy Spirit increasingly relevant. The Church, brothers and sisters, I suggest must of necessity, become actively involved in engaging these issues, as we seek to bring clarity, structure and order to the lives of so many people. We cannot be satisfied to call these issues out and speak to their negative effects. I begin with the matter of decision-making.
This matter demands that we create the context for individuals to develop their own decision-making resources. At a time when we hear so much talk about what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing, or how the Spirit is directing our lives or our Church, may I suggest that the Spirit is calling us to journey with persons facing lifelong decisions.
In this season focused on the Holy Spirit, is there a possibility that the Spirit is calling us as a Church to offer support, care, guidance and understanding to families experiencing conflicts, pain and tension? I invite us to consider the possibility that God’s Holy Spirit is calling us to make ourselves available to persons struggling to identify meaning, purpose and focus for their lives.
As we continue our journey this season of Pentecost, is the Holy Spirit of God calling us to explore new and creative ways to give expression to his presence and activity in the places and spaces we live out our lives?
I challenge us to open the eyes of our faith to the new and emerging opportunities open to us to reveal the activity, presence and movement of the Holy Spirit.
Today we pray, Come Holy spirit our souls inspire and lighten with celestial fire the attaining of my heart.
Love and blessings eternal,
Fr. Eddie