Perhaps my favorite Pentecost Sunday was a few years ago when I was teaching 4 & 5 year old Sunday School. (Ok, that was 5 years ago, which is more than a few. Where does the time go?)
We may be knuckleheads at times, but that’s why Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit. I may not be able to speak in tongues but today I was able to speak 4 & 5 year olds which is pretty close.
The next Pentecost Sunday found me in an in between space, getting ready to leave my single girl life and enter the CSJPs. I was more than a wee bit anxious.
I was at church early so I decided to stop and smell the roses … there’s a small City rose garden close by. ... I noticed one small patch though that wasn’t quite yet in full bloom. A few roses were in bloom, others were beginning to, but the majority were green buds waiting to burst into fullness. “Huh,” I thought. “Yes I am taking leave. Things will not be the same. But new things will happen here at St Phil’s and in the lives of my friends. And new and exciting things will happen as I journey into a new phase of life as well. It will all be ok.” That’s when I looked down and saw the name of this brand of roses …. The Gift of Life. Interesting that on this Pentecost Sunday the Spirit speaks to me through a bed of roses!
A few years later, during my novitiate back East one of my favorite sisters in the West passed away on Pentecost. She was incredibly wise and I think we all miss her. Luckily, she left us some of her wisdom which I shared here on the blog.
Life and prayer are intertwined, because the natural thing to do is to talk to God, to pray. Nothing is compartmentalized. We’re part and parcel of what’s going on all over the world. That’s not something I have to work on – it’s a natural reaction, a natural response. All the equipment we have, our senses of vision, hearing, touch, blend in to connect us to the Creator and we’re still connected when any of these senses are lost. ~ Sr. Margaret Dove, CSJP
Then last year on Pentecost, I found myself reading the words of another Margaret ... Margaret Anna Cusack, the founder of my religious community. Turns out she wrote a meditation book for Advent & Easter, and I spent the morning with her reflections for Pentecost.
Pray that this blessed Spirit may descend upon you today in all his fullness and in all his love. ~ Mother Francis Clare (Margaret Anna Cusack)
This Pentecost Sunday, I find myself looking back (obviously) at all the places the Holy Spirit has been present in my own life. I'm also taking a course this quarter on Theology in an Ecumenical Context, and so on this "Birthday of the Church" I also find myself looking at the presence of the Holy Spirit in the larger church, the "Holy catholic and apostolic one" with a little "c". The universal church.
And so I pray, in the words of Margaret Anna, that this blessed Spirit may descend upon us all today in all fullness and love. May be be open to God's graces, abundant blessings, and the movement of the Spirit to places we never imagined.
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