Monday, May 25th
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: Gabrielle Kelly O.P. – Encounter
It happened a few days after Pentecost, when I was visiting a large city in India to see the work that was being done there by our Sisters. I was walking past a rubbish tip when I saw this woman, salvaging filthy bits of plastic from the foul-smelling heap. I saw her sweaty, dusty face and thought, ‘She is somebody’s family, she could be my own sister! Suddenly it hit me: she is my sister!’
I had been reflecting on those people who had experienced the first Pentecost and wondering how the first Pentecost experience happens in us?
Later, it dawned on me. Wasn’t that encounter with that woman an occasion of the Holy Spirit acting in me? Wasn’t that confronting insight a small ray of the Pentecost experience? Come, light of our hearts! For Pentecost is surely about seeing differently, with Christ’s Spirit bringing not so much new ideas as new enlightenment of the heart, impelling action. The Holy Spirit, Love itself, is the very Spirit of solidarity, bridging every divide, transcending language and every other barrier. The One who teaches us to experience not ‘others’, but sisters and brothers, is indeed the selfsame Spirit who cries ‘Abba’ in our hearts. Could I even now, learn a new sensitivity to the presence of this Spirit, who alone can guide our work aright?
Come, Holy Spirit – come today!
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.