Category: Uncategorized

Saturday, May 30^th

OPENING  PRAYER: Father, pour out your Spirit upon all your children,
especially on all the members of our parish family.
Grant us all a new vision of Your glory, a new experience of Your power,
a new faithfulness to Your word, and a new consecration to Your service,
that Your love may grow among us and your Kingdom come.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

REFLECTION: My Church
My Church is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is.
It will be friendly, if I am. Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver.
It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, if I invite and bring them.
It will be a Church of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, and a Church with a noble spirit, if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things.
Therefore, with the help of God, and through the power of His Spirit,
I shall dedicate myself to the task of being all the things that I want my Church to be.
Amen.

CLOSING LITANY: Response: Spirit of God, come into our hearts: make us your new creation.
Spirit of light, let the fire of your wisdom burn brightly within us. R.
Spirit of silence, in the still moment may we be open to God’s presence. R.
Spirit of courage, dispel the fear that lingers in our hearts. R.
Spirit of fire, engulf us with the passion of Christ’s love.  R.
Spirit of peace, help us to be attentive to God’s word in the world.  R.
Spirit of joy, enthuse us to proclaim aloud the Good News. R.
Spirit of love, compel us to open ourselves to the needs of others.  R.
Spirit of power, bestow the gift of your strength upon us.  R
Spirit of truth, guide us to walk in the way of Christ.  R.

Friday, May 29^th

OPENING  PRAYER: Father, pour out your Spirit upon all your children,
especially on all the members of our parish family.
Grant us all a new vision of Your glory, a new experience of Your power,
a new faithfulness to Your word, and a new consecration to Your service,
that Your love may grow among us and your Kingdom come.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

REFLECTION:  Silvester O’Flynn – Born of the Spirit
The ending of one period is always the beginning of another. When the grain is harvested, the work of the reaper is completed but the task of the miller has just begun. As Jesus completed his mission, the task of the church was just beginning. He set the wheels in motion. He breathed on the disciples and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’     On that day, the words of the psalmist attained a new meaning: ‘You send forth your spirit; they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.’ (Psalm 103)
How does this new breathing of the Spirit change and renew? What are the fruits of the new life? Paul tells us that it is not the spirit of slavery and fear. ‘The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again’; it is the spirit of children who recognise God as the loving Father. Nor is it the spirit of timidity and weakness, but ‘the spirit of power, and love, and self-control.’(2 Timothy 1:7)
When the fiery tongue of the Spirit ignites a soul, the interior fire will be manifested in many ways. Religion will be no half-hearted affair dominated by servile fear but a full, joyful celebration of God who is good and loving. The Spirit of power and divine energy moves even gentle, little people to astonishing initiatives and even more astonishing courage in perseverance. The presence of the Spirit is always marked with joy, even in the midst of suffering. There is none of the sadness of sin nor lives of ‘quiet desperation’. God is praised, goodness is observed and life is celebrated. The coming of the Spirit cannot be tied down: for the work of the Spirit is as free as the wind. ‘The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’ (John 3:8)

CLOSING LITANY:
Response: Spirit of God, come into our hearts: make us your new creation.
Spirit of light, let the fire of your wisdom burn brightly within us. R.
Spirit of silence, in the still moment may we be open to God’s presence. R.
Spirit of courage, dispel the fear that lingers in our hearts. R.
Spirit of fire, engulf us with the passion of Christ’s love.  R.
Spirit of peace, help us to be attentive to God’s word in the world.  R.
Spirit of joy, enthuse us to proclaim aloud the Good News. R.
Spirit of love, compel us to open ourselves to the needs of others.  R.
Spirit of power, bestow the gift of your strength upon us.  R
Spirit of truth, guide us to walk in the way of Christ.  R.

Thursday, May 28^th

OPENING  PRAYER: Father, pour out your Spirit upon all your children,
especially on all the members of our parish family.
Grant us all a new vision of Your glory, a new experience of Your power,
a new faithfulness to Your word, and a new consecration to Your service,
that Your love may grow among us and your Kingdom come.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

REFLECTION: Pope Francis – The Joy of Discipleship – Newness
The Church shows her fidelity to the Holy Spirit in as much as she does not try to control or tame him. And the Church shows herself also when she rejects the temptation to look only inward. We Christians become true missionary disciples, able to challenge consciences, when we throw off our defensiveness and allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit. He is freshness, imagination, and newness.
Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, program, and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness – God always brings newness – and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to proclaim the Gospel.

CLOSING LITANY:
Response: Spirit of God, come into our hearts: make us your new creation.
Spirit of light, let the fire of your wisdom burn brightly within us. R.
Spirit of silence, in the still moment may we be open to God’s presence. R.
Spirit of courage, dispel the fear that lingers in our hearts. R.
Spirit of fire, engulf us with the passion of Christ’s love.  R.
Spirit of peace, help us to be attentive to God’s word in the world.  R.
Spirit of joy, enthuse us to proclaim aloud the Good News. R.
Spirit of love, compel us to open ourselves to the needs of others.  R.
Spirit of power, bestow the gift of your strength upon us.  R
Spirit of truth, guide us to walk in the way of Christ.  R.

Wednesday, May 27^th

OPENING  PRAYER: Father, pour out your Spirit upon all your children,
especially on all the members of our parish family.
Grant us all a new vision of Your glory, a new experience of Your power,
a new faithfulness to Your word, and a new consecration to Your service,
that Your love may grow among us and your Kingdom come.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

REFLECTION:  Richard Rohr – The Risen Jesus: God’s hidden plan
You cannot see Jesus until you have believed in him (John 20:16,28). If you accept that there was a Resurrection, that will not necessarily lead to faith. But if you receive the gift of faith, you will necessarily experience the Resurrection. “And that joy no one shall take from you” (John 16:22).
We cannot see love itself, but we can see what happens to those who have been loved. We can see the power and gentleness of those who let themselves be loved by Jesus. We know that there is endless life welling up within us. We know that when we dare to look at others with “unveiled” faces, they begin “reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord and all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit – and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17,18).

CLOSING LITANY:

Response: Spirit of God, come into our hearts: make us your new creation.
Spirit of light, let the fire of your wisdom burn brightly within us. R.
Spirit of silence, in the still moment may we be open to God’s presence. R.
Spirit of courage, dispel the fear that lingers in our hearts. R.
Spirit of fire, engulf us with the passion of Christ’s love.  R.
Spirit of peace, help us to be attentive to God’s word in the world.  R.
Spirit of joy, enthuse us to proclaim aloud the Good News. R.
Spirit of love, compel us to open ourselves to the needs of others.  R.
Spirit of power, bestow the gift of your strength upon us.  R
Spirit of truth, guide us to walk in the way of Christ.  R.