For a new Pentecost: that God will pour out the Spirit in a new and abundant way to renew humanity and all of creation
For a Spirit of unity: that God will destroy all the divisions that separate the human family and restore our ability to work together against disease, famine, and injustice
For a Spirit of love: that we may fulfil Christ’s command to love one another by placing our time, energy, and gifts at the service of others and helping them to carry their daily burdens
For a Spirit of truth: that we may open our minds and hearts to all the ways that truth is manifest particularly in the scriptures, tradition, the wisdom of those who have gone before us, and in the humanities and the sciences
For a Spirit of hope: that all who are overwhelmed by life may find new reasons to live this day and be gifted with a vision of all that could be tomorrow
For the Spirit of healing: that God will touch all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19, strengthen their minds, bodies, and spirits, and restore them to wholeness
For all who have died: we remember especially Jim Magee and Margaret Martin who have died recently
And for Rev Jim Byers, Elizabeth Kean and James and Betty McAlpine whose anniversaries are at this time:-
Pandemic, Test and Trace, Furloughing, Social Distancing, Lockdown, R-numbers, Modelling, Covid 19,
We quickly develop new patterns of vocabulary and expressions to cover new situations and crises. The coronavirus pandemic is certainly no exception to this rule. Lots of the above words and phrases would simply not be grasped or understood if we had heard them just a few months ago. One of the words which is very much to the fore in these days is “lockdown”. It’s easy enough to comprehend its meaning but maybe a lot more difficult to deal with personally, both in its imposition and in carefully and gradually emerging from that situation.
For us, though, the word “lockdown” can surely also be used in relation to where the first Christian communities found themselves following the death of Jesus,. They indeed had locked down together in their fear of the consequences of being discovered. They initially lacked the necessary courage and power of witness to transmit the message of new life which the Spirit of God brings.
The feast of Pentecost binds together for us Easter Day and Pentecost Day, initially through the locked doors and the closing in of the disciples. It goes from that lockdown situation to bring before us such a profound change in all of those disciples. They are made able, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to communicate with people from “every nation under heaven”. The combining of these events shows us that it is from the whole of the Easter mystery that the Church is called into life, vitality and mission.
The language, of course, which they were called to master is the language of the Spirit. And to be fluent in that tongue is to submit your life to the way of the Spirit. This, surely is what those first disciples were able to do so that their message was able to triumph.
What they brought to the world through their deepest and innermost communication was the truth that “Jesus is Lord”, the Lord of their lives. Jesus is Lord was ultimately what their lives proclaimed. It was the sign that they had opened their lives to the power of the resurrection.
In life, we may do a lot of talking. However, we also communicate constantly at a level which is much deeper than words. It is at this level where the truth or otherwise of our spoken words come through. While we listen to what people say to us, we know that there is more than just the verbal aspect. There is the language of the heart. The heart reads the heart and the spirit recognizes itself wherever it sees itself as manifest. In our relationship to God, this level should be reflective of our lives being under the influence of the Holy Spirit, as Paul puts it in our second reading. That language of the Spirit has to take full hold of our way of living, Thus charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, longsuffering, fidelity, gentleness, and chastity will be the true hallmarks of our lives.
Today is the feast of the sending of the Holy Spirit. It represents then much more than some sort of static remembrance of the third person of the Holy Trinity. It is dynamic and active. It is continuing today in the Church. It is to be lived by the Church, the Body of Christ in every time and situation. It is to be proclaimed by us even in this time of pandemic and pain.
The Spirit can never be locked down and we are never in lockdown in relation to the gifts of the Spirit given to us. They are to be seen in us, lived by us, in these days too. Let us implore our God to help us to treasure the precious gifts he has given to his children. Let us ask him to bring us to say “Jesus is Lord” in every aspect of our lives and through every situation we have to face.
For all the Holy People of God:- That the Church may continue to live, guided by faith inspired by hope and marked by deep love for all.
For those who are tempted to despair in these days:- That they will sense again the care and the goodness of God for them.
For all healthcare workers: that God will renew their strength, guide them in their work, and protect them and their families from harm
For all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19: that God’s healing love will relieve their pain, strengthen their minds and bodies, and restore them to full health
For all government leaders: that God will guide them in developing safe and prudent strategies in helping us to move forward safely from lockdown
For all scientists and resarchers:- That their quest to find a suitable vaccine and treatment may very soon be met with a successful outcome.
For those who have died, remembering especially Cathie McCormack, Jim McGee Jim McLaughlin, Jeanette Farquarson, Mary Greene, and Peter Duffy who have died recently,
For the month’s mind of Mark Dolan
for the anniversaries of June MacKinnon, Jacqueline Coilleran, Patricia MacKinnon, Neil MacKinnon, Elizabeth Kean, Mary Coyle Hendry and Ella Sharpe Hendry:-
That they will share fully in the glory of the resurrection.
Whenever the normal pattern and structure of our week is changed, for whatever reason, we can be surprised at finding it more difficult to know exactly what day of the week it actually is. When the normal rhythm of weekday, work, school, early rise – weekend leisure, Church , football, free time, disappears, then it is not automatic to retain an immediate and instinctive awareness of where we are.
If we extend this way of things over weeks and months as we just have, then it becomes even more difficult to keep things in view. As we can all bear witness, one day is so like another. Even things like traffic noise are much the same from one day to another. The birds and animals must be wondering what we are up to!
For us, alongside the rhythm of daily life there is also the flowing of what we can describe as the Church’s “liturgical time”, the liturgical year. If we were asked to sit down and draw the circle of the Church’s year of worship then we could, I am sure, quickly put in writing the cycle of Lent – Easter – Ordinary Time – Advent – Christmas – Winter ordinary time, back to Lent. For the weekly dynamic, there is always the central and foundational place of Sunday, the Day of the Resurrection.
For us, of course, this is certainly never a mere paper exercise. Rather, it is how we are called to life and how we are gifted that life by our God. At the heart of this experience is the power of the death and resurrection, given to us initially in Baptism and then, constantly, a call to continue to share in this life through the different elements of our worship year.
We come to understand what it means for us by constantly involving and engaging ourselves in the celebration of these feasts and seasons. Little children who are at Church with their parents and brothers and sisters are opened gradually to awareness of what this is for them. In our parish, our altar servers, in their first weeks of serving, frequently ask, “what colour is it, Father” as they arrange their cords and their cinctures on their albs.. In this way they are also opened to their own understanding of the church’s year.
Since this pattern and rhythm is severely missing for us during this sad and trying time, in which our Churches remain closed, we need to take time to remind ourselves of where we are and of what aspect of the Paschal Mystery is our focus just now.
This Sunday is the 7th of Easter, our great fifty day feast; it represents the Church between Ascension and Pentecost. The first reading for today’s Mass brings before us a particularly beautiful and powerful image of the infant Church united in prayer. Within it, I just love the way in which Mary the mother of Jesus and mother of our Church is portrayed. She is not singled out but simply mentioned as being there, as being part of this gathering of disciples united in continuous prayer. In this instance the names of the apostles are actually spelled out before Mary and the women and Jesus’ brothers.
Look to any artistic arrangement of this event and you will find that Mary has been moved, not surprisingly, to the middle of the gathering, in spiritual reverence of the one who is the Mother of God. Allow yourself to be at home in this upper room gathering and both depictions of Mary provide us with much opportunity for reflection. It speaks to us of the community after the Ascension, preparing in prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Mary who was already totally obedient to the Spirit and fully open to the call of the Spirit, prepares with the other disciples for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church.
It’s a scene that must also be contemporary; which must encompass our involvement, our presence, our prayer today. As we move from Ascension to Pentecost, we must pray that the Spirit of the Lord will come down upon each one of us and upon the Church in this time of pandemic. The image of Mary joined in her prayer with the rest of those first disciples is to be for us also the image of Mary the mother of the Church, with us now, interceding for us and bringing us before her Son.
The Church can be renewed in every event and episode of her existence. These days represent for all humanity a time of real difficulty, suffering and uncertainty. They also bring before us in the community of faith an opportunity to grow in trust, faith and courage, a time witness to the Spirit through deeds of love, a time to ask the Mother of the saviour to be close to us and united to us in prayer with and for us and all humanity. A time to be opened to the transforming power of the death and resurrection, the Paschal Mystery, of Christ Jesus.
For all the Holy People of God:- That the Church may continue to live, guided by faith inspired by hope and marked by deep love for all.
For those who are tempted to despair in these days:- That they will sense again the care and the goodness of God for them.
For all healthcare workers: that God will renew their strength, guide them in their work, and protect them and their families from harm
For all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19: that God’s healing love will relieve their pain, strengthen their minds and bodies, and restore them to full health
For all government leaders: that God will guide them in developing safe and prudent strategies in helping us to move forward safely from lockdown
For all scientists and resarchers:- That their quest to find a suitable vaccine and treatment may very soon be met with a successful outcome.
For those who have died, remembering especially Cathie McCormack and Jim McLaughlin who have died recently, for the remembrance OF Henri et Janine Rousel, Tom Doherty, Johjn & Winnie Docherty, Brian McDonagh, Tom and Margaret McDoagh and for the anniversary of Margaret Grattan:-
That they will share fully in the joy of the resurrection.
Tick yes or no to let us know what you think.…………………..
We are well used to the instant checking of views and opinions which can be easily delivered through responding to a series of questions with the simple response of Yes/ No. On many issues we might have a strongly held opinion, but equally we can give an answer to matters that really are not crucial in any way for us. We can give our answer and then forget about the issue and just get on with life.
And then there is the answer where, in a sense, our response is truly sacred. When we might give yes as our answer, but the word can just as well be expressed by our “amen”. Our assent to God’s presence within us.
Our whole life’s journey can then be seen as a continual and increasing process of saying “yes”
Our second reading and gospel today merge together in pointing to the way in which we are to make our yes become clearer
The first letter of Peter calls the followers of Jesus to “always have their answer ready for people who ask for the people who ask for the reason for the hope that you all have”. The gospel in turn surely points to the reason for and the source of that hope. It brings before us the indwelling of God in our lives.
Continually we here the expressions:-
he is in you, he is in you
because I live and you will live
I am in my Father and you in me and I in you
The relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit brings to us also the nature of God’s relationship with us.
Unlike so many other religions, the Christian faith is the one where the one who is God continually goes in search of us, who wants to make his home in us., who requires simply our “yes” in order to live in us.
To say “yes”, of course, means to be open to God’s presence. Ultimately it means to put into practice, continually, our positive response to the words “Love one another as I have loved you.” To make God’s ways our ways. Just receive and love.
If we have the trust and courage to accept Jesus call as the way to continually move forward in life, then surely that response indeed brings us to be living continually as a people of hope. If God will live in us, then we can extend the ambient of our own living in love. It means to be able to love without conditions and limits being imposed continually as to how we will be loving. It means to be open in life to the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
There we truly discover how to live out our “yes”, our Amen to the Father who loves us, who comes to us and Who tells us that He takes delight in making his home in us.
For the Body of Christ, the Church:- That God’s people may have the faith to trust in the goodness of the Lord and his continued presence with us even in this time of trial and pain.
For all healthcare workers: that God will renew their strength, guide them in their work, and protect them and their families from harm
For all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19: that God’s healing love will relieve their pain, strengthen their minds and bodies, and restore them to full health
For all government leaders: that God will guide them in developing safe and prudent strategies in helping us to move forward safely from lockdown
For all scientists and researchers:- That their quest to find a suitable vaccine and treatment may very soon be met with a successful outcome.
For those who have lost loved ones:- That they may receive consolation and the soothing of their pain and loss by the one who has destroyed death’s power for ever.
For all who have died, especially John Bryson and John Boyle and those who have gone before us in faith:- That they may come to share in the joy of God’s kingdom
Lock down cannot last go on indefinitely. That’s for certain. In the last few days, the tension between keeping people physically safe and keeping people mentally healthy has been to the fore.
The discussion about the reopening of schools and the benefits and dangers has been widely debated. One basic truth which has become even more clearly understood and experienced is the fact that we are social beings. The Book of Genesis brings to us that fundamental truth that it is not good that man should be alone. Our schools, their classrooms, playgrounds, assembly halls and dining halls all bear united witness to the fact that we are social beings and naturally drawn to be in company with each other. It is a universal truth.
What is true of the world and all its peoples, of course, is especially true of our spiritual selves which is, for us, one of the reasons why it is so difficult to live through these days of enforced separation for the Body of Christ.
Our second reading today brings before us the powerful words of the writer of the First Letter of Peter:-
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation. A people set apart to sing the praises of God, Who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
We are to sing the praises of God constantly, not only in specific acts of worship but with our entire lives. Having said that, the greatest expression we can give to our truest identity is in gathering together as the Body of Christ on the Lord’s Day to celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of our Saviour.
A great witness to this was given in a Roman courthouse in Carthage at the beginning of the fourth century. Arrested during the celebration of Sunday Eucharist in a house Church, the 49 Christians of Abitene were interrogated as to their motives for gathering. The response to their interrogators question was simply, We can not live without Sunday – without this coming together, this gathering on the Lord’s day. Sunday in this instance has a triple meaning. It refers to the day, it refers to the event, the death and resurrection of Jesus and it refers to his presence to and in the gathered assembly.
We cannot live without Sunday.
That truth holds firm also today. We can echo the testimony of these North African martyrs. We live from what we are given in the Sunday Eucharist and we truly live for the Eucharist. We are called to allow those words to take on an even deeper meaning for us in these days where gathering is temporarily not possible.
We allow the Word of God for this week to give us real nourishment. We ask the Lord to help us to hear his words spoken to us, spoken to the Body of Christ and to be uplifted and consoled by what he says to us right now:-
“Do not let your hearts be troubled Trust in God still and trust in me”
Those words can take us in all sorts of different directions and apply in all sorts of life situations.
Perhaps we can sit down with them today, spend time with them and let them help us to know that our Lord and God continues to be with us and to be for us, even through this time of trial, our way, our truth and our life.
It’s the first Saturday in May. The sun is shining today; there’s a spring warmth in the air; birds are singing, trees are becoming greener by the day, plants and flowers are in bud – but there is something vital to this day and to this weekend which is missing. Today and tomorrow should be our First Communions and we know that they cannot take place at this fraught moment in time. So our thoughts and indeed prayers go out to you in a special way today, boys and girls. You bring joy and life to us. Your presence is a sign of hope for us and the future of the body of Christ here in our parish family, in your own families and in your schools.
We need to celebrate your First Communion with you because in so doing, while we celebrate with you, we are also reminded again of who we are and what is truly life giving for us. For many of us it opens up the channels of precious memories in our own sacramental lives. It calls us to appreciate anew the gift that has been ours in the Eucharist over many years.
The Sunday liturgy speaks to us this weekend about the one whom we call our good Shepherd. For many years, the Church has also focussed on the ongoing need for more Vocations to the priesthood. It is sometimes even termed “Vocations Sunday”. Frequently there is a letter from one of the Bishops to reinforce that message and appeal. Always, there is an extra collection! Whenever there is a First Communion Mass, then obviously that is what should and would take pride of place. The homily would be surely directed above all to the children and their families.
Perhaps today when we are forced to postpone our first communions and when we sense the ongoing pain and sorrow at the forced temporary loss of celebrating Eucharist, we can reflect on the truth that, just as we need the celebration of First Communions for the ongoing life and spiritual health of the Church, so we also need the ongoing service of priesthood to help that spiritual life and health to continue. First Communion, and the commitment to see that as something vital in life, must operate in full harmony with the call to serve the Lord in the priesthood. One requires the other in order that the Church continues to live.
So today let’s pray for our children. Let us pray that the delay for our children in going to the table of the Lord to be nourished and formed as Christ’s brothers and sisters may be as short as possible. Let us pray also, that there may be a continued awareness in our Church and in our parish of the great need to ensure that there is a continued supply of priests to serve our Church.
Let us pray that our Good Shepherd’s voice may be heard by us all today as he says to us in the Eucharist and through the priesthood, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full”
For Pope Francis and all shepherds of God’s people: that they may faithfully imitate Christ in accompanying the people of God on their journey and encouraging their growth toward wholeness
For all the human family: that God will liberate us from the coronavirus pandemic, helps us grow in our awareness of the needs of one another, and build trust and cooperation amongst all peoples
For all who are awaiting the sacraments of initiation in the Church and in our Diocese and especially for Emma in our parish: that God will sustain them, help them to deepen their commitment, and grow in their desire to serve God each day
For our children who should have been receiving their First Holy Communion in these days. That they will soon experience the great joy of sharing in the Bread of life.
For all healthcare workers: that God will renew their strength, guide them in their work, and protect them and their families from harm
For all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19: that God’s healing love will relieve their pain, strengthen their minds and bodies, and restore them to full health
For all government leaders: that God will guide them in developing safe and prudent strategies in helping us to move forward safely from lockdown
For all scientists and resarchers:- That their quest to find a suitable vaccine and treatment may very soon be met with a successful outcome.
For all who have died:- We pray in particular for Liliana Reilly and John Bryson – and for Thomas Wardrope, who have died recently
And for the anniversaries of Margaret Callaghan, Jim McFadden and John and James Moogan:- That the good Shepherd will bring them safely home to paradise.
