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Today, Sunday 8th June - the Feast of Pentecost, we have 827 people from all over the world and from many Christian and some non-Christian denominations joining together in prayer. 

This week's reflection is a bit long because of the Feast Day that's in it, loads of Scriptural references, so I hope you don't get too bored. If you do, there is a lovely little one from Bob and 
Debbie Gass called: "The 3-minute temptation-buster."

The Word for Today

All of the Reflections to date are available to read on the website for anyone who's interested and can be found in ther Archives.

The Weekly Intentions are available on a plain page to be able to print off and kept to hand for your own prayer time. The list has become too long now to include each week but please say the 
two wee prayers below. The Loving Father knows the heart of each person requesting prayer.

"Father, bless all those who have requested prayers in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! Father, we ask You to heal the broken bodies, broken minds, broken spirits, broken hearts  and broken relationships and may all their lives be full of Your peace,  prosperity, and power as they seek to have a close relationship with  You. Amen."

"Thank You Jesus for answering our prayers because we know You hear every prayer and never refuse to answer. You are providing answers and healings from the prayers of all these wonderful people. Praise God!"

The word Pentecost means 'fiftieth' - fifty days after the Resurrection  of Christ and co-inciding with an ancient Jewish festival called the 'Feast of Weeks'. Everything in the New Testament links with the Old.

Of all the articles of faith, the Blessed Trinity is the most difficult to understand, but then faith oftens means not understanding  everything. How could we, we'd need to BE God to understand it all. 
The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, a Person distinct from the Father and the Son, and yet they are the One God.

Right from the time of creation we read of the Spirit of God and most often associated with water. The symbolism of water has always been life and in Baptism we are given new life with God. Our Baptism brings us into the Family of God. In Genesis chapter 1 we read:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Throughout the Old Testament we see references to the power and wisdom of the Spirit of God. Here in Ireland we have a saying for someone who is depressed - the spirit's gone out of him. It means 
that person is 'dead inside', lifeless, lacking in fire.

John the Baptist tells us of the coming of the Spirit with Christ when he said:

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." 

Yet again the link with water and the promise of the Holy Spirit in Christian Baptism

Throughout His ministry Jesus referred to the Spirit and in Matthew 10:20 He tells the Apostles:

"...for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

After the Resurrection we read of the Apostles actions:

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All 
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

In Saint John's Gospel Jesus tells the Apostles of the road ahead of them, that they will be despised as He is but that they will always have help to carry out their mission: 

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." John 15: 26-27

Later in this Gospel John tells us of Jesus commissioning the Apostles after His Resurrection to continue His teachings in a sacramental church and through the sacrament of penance:

"Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." John 20: 21-23

And so about 1970 years ago the Church of Christ burst forth upon the world after the Holy Spirit came upon 120 of the believers, including the Apostles, Mary the Mother of Jesus and the other Holy Women in the upper room, the cenacle. The tongues of fire resting on each one of them, 'charged the batteries' and breathed life into them. He gave the Apostles the power to speak in many languages to the crowds that came to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks. He also transformed them, from selfish 
and timid men into giants of courage and faith.

We turn now to the Seven Gifts of sanctifying grace given to all those who are Baptised in the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Baptism and strengthened through the sacrament of Confirmation. 

They are: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. Rev. William G. Most defines the Giftsof the Holy Spirit in the following ways:

"The first four Gifts perfect the intellectual virtues. Wisdom perfects charity, in order to judge divine things. Understanding allows a deeper understanding  into truth. Knowledge perfects the virtue of 
hope. The gift of counsel perfects prudence.

The other three gifts perfect virtues of the will and appetites. The gift of piety perfects justice in giving to others that which is their due. This is especially true of giving God what is His due. Fortitude 
perfects the virtue of fortitude, in facing dangers. Fear of the Lord perfects temperance in controlling disordered appetites."

Then there are the Charismatic Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the ordinaryto assist us through our daily lives and the extraordinary given to whom the Spirit wills. Again Rev. Most argues that 

"The extraordinary are given when and to whom the Spirit wills, as St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 12.11. They are not routine today, though they were in the first generation Church, as we see from 1 Cor 12-14.

Still further, the possession of extraordinary charismatic favors does not even prove those who have them are in the state of grace. We think of the frightening words of Our Lord Himself in Mt 7. 22-23:

"Many will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and have done many marvels in your name? And then I will admit to them: I never knew you: depart from me you workers of iniquity."

As we live a life with God through the Holy Spirit the Fruits of the Holy Spirit grow in our souls with our practice of Virtue as enabled by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are:

The fruits of life in the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22). Some New Testament manuscripts add three more gifts: chastity, modesty, and generosity.

And so, as Christians, we recognise the importance of seeking the HolySpirit in all that we do, in living our daily lives with and in the Holy Spirit,and in opening ourselves to all that the Spirit offers us for a peaceful, God-led life. There is a lovely image of Jesus knocking on a door and waiting for it to be opened. That is the door of our heart and once opened to Him Jesus enters and ignites the Spirit, Who is the Love between Him and the Father. It is like releasing a mighty wind that has been within us since our Baptism. Here's a nice prayer to activate that 'wind'.

"Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy; 
Act in me O Holy Spirit that my work, too, may be holy; 
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy; 
Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy." 

God Bless you all for praying for and with each other and may the Holy Spirit ever be your guide,

Mary in Galway

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The 3-minute temptation-buster.

" I WILL PRAY THE FATHER, AND HE SHALL GIVE YOU ANOTHER COMFORTER… "  JOHN 14 : 16 

In his great book, Spiritual Breakthroughs, Bruce Wilkinson writes: 'I made a dramatic breakthrough when I discovered that right before every temptation, my emotions were distressed (inwardly agitated) and that I was actually seeking for comfort. That's when I remembered the promise, 'I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever' (John 14:16).

'Incredibly, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to be our ever-present source of comfort. I wondered what would happen if I specifically asked Him to comfort me in the time of temptation.

'I decided to try. I prayed: 'Dear Holy Spirit, I'm in desperate need of you. I don't want to sin - please comfort me now.' At first nothing happened. How discouraged I felt. But then I slowly became aware of something - I felt comforted. I didn't know exactly when I was comforted, I only knew that I was - 
that my soul felt soothed and no longer in pain. When I turned back toward the temptation, it had miraculously slithered back into the darkness, far away from my senses. I was free. 

'I've prayed to my Comforter many times since, and I've discovered two immutable truths (1) the Holy Spirit always - and I mean always - completes His responsibility in my heart (2) He always gives me His comfort within 3 minutes, though I can never put my finger on the moment when He does. I call this prayer for comfort my '3-minute temptation-buster'. Why don't you try it?

Here's the prayer we had last week and a really good one to keepus 'tuned into' the Holy Spirit and how we should depend on the Spirit throughout our daily life.

"O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your will. Amen"

God Bless you all.

Mary in Galway