Bringing Heaven to Earth
Pentecost Sunday
Announcements for June 4, 2022:
If you need anything at all, please be in touch with me.
Some of our ladies are hosting a Morning of Recollection for mothers on June 7th from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Contact the rectory for more information.
At the end of the ordination Mass (May 28) Bishop Sweeney announced the new priests’ first assignments. You will be pleased to know that Father Wade Trainor will be staying at OLMC to help support and strengthen our growing community.
Visit the OLMC Parishioner Portal for all of our recent announcements.
Dear Saints,
The readings, prayers, and hymns for the Mass of Pentecost Sunday reveal the importance and centrality of this event in the life of the Church.
In my bulletin article this week, I tried to situate Pentecost in its first-century context. It's a fascinating feast, but it's hard to do it justice in a short reflection.
In this email, I'd like to offer just one further point for your consideration: In Saint Luke’s description of Pentecost from the Acts of the Apostles, the wind blows down on the disciples in the opposite direction of Jesus’ being taken up into the clouds.
This isn't simply a physical description of the event. What the author of Acts wants us to see is that just as Jesus entered heaven in his Ascension, so now does the sheer energy of heaven itself infiltrate the earth in his sending the Spirit.
The direction of the wind serves as a sign that God himself fills the disciples' hearts (and, so, floods the world) with his Spirit.
This - not only the event of Pentecost 2,000 years ago, but also God's continued outpouring of his Spirit on Jesus' faithful followers today - is what brings heaven to earth. This is what accomplishes the reality we pray for in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Exciting? Absolutely! Let's join together in prayer and find our place in God's plan to bring heaven to earth!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
V. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
In the Love and Life of our Risen Lord,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Pentecost Sunday
"The Ascension and Pentecost"
Depicted in Somme Le Roi, ca.1300