Pentecost Message

God is love (1 Jn. 4:7-21) and God decided to give us the gift of God's love—the gift of God self—three times over: first in God's creation of us; then in God's redemption of us through the Incarnation of His Beloved Son; and finally, in God's recreation of us through the workings of God's own Spirit in the church.

How do we respond to such a magnificent gift of love? With love, of course! However, loving appropriately, that is, in the way God does, requires us to become servant leaders—people ready to serve and even give up our lives in favor of others, especially the neediest and most vulnerable among us.

This is no small feat. In fact, it is the loftiest task of our lives! But fret not! In order for us to live up to the expectations of God's love, we need not rely on our own work and merits alone. Instead, we need to open up to God's loving presence in our lives so that we might be able to truly become what we were created to be.

Think of it like this: the programming is already there, inside of us. All we need to do is activate it by pushing the button called "prayer" and using the program called "God's Grace." We do not even need to come up with a way to do that. We just need to use the words of a master orator and a preeminent Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, to activate the program through prayer. So, come on! Let's do it together.

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.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,

                        that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,

                        to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,

                        that I always may be holy.

Amen!

Happy Feast of Pentecost!

Sr. Walter Maher, CCVI

VP for Mission and Ministry