Pentecost

Felt Presence – St. Columba’s, Viewpark, (Motherwell Diocese)

Never a dull moment. At the end of my morning stint at the Guesthouse, I went out the front door to head back to the abbey only to be confronted by the front of a large Coach looming over me. Apparently I had booked this SVDP (St. Vincent dePaul) party for Saturday 10th but had entered the month as that of JUNE, instead of today in May!!!!!!

We marshalled the resources in short order.

In the afternoon Abbot Raymond had the Mass for the Eve of Pentecost at the monastery. The Holy Spirit gives us His heart. Are the words of Jesus not extraordinary? Taking the words from our Antiphon for the Song of Zachary, “Received the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them”, he wove a meditation around that special role of the Holy Spirit as the heart of the Trinity. If it is appropriate to speak of the Father as creator, of the Son as Redeemer, the Holy Spirit is the Reconciler, the bond uniting the Three. It is the model of reconciliation, communion, in our own lives.

The Abbot was able to thank the people from St. Columba’s for their generous support for the monastery of Our Lady of the Angels, Nigeria. He will be returning there in the New Year for the election of the Suprior of the young community.

So, in spite of my initial bungling of the date of the event the visitors made a happy day of it, crowned by Charles having a royal setting prepared for the evening refreshments.

PENTECOST. 2008. Chapter Sermon. Fr. Hugh

Excerpt . . . . .

St. Aelred refers to St. John the Evangelist as 'He who knew the secrets' He wrote what is traditionally called 'The Spiritual Gospel' and it is here that we find Our Lord's thought most intimately described.

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At Christmas God came among us , at Pentecost He is God come within us. Our Lord said it is good for you that I go away because if I do not go away the Holy Spirit will not come to you. Christ withdraws in his human nature only to become present in a more wonderful way in the Holy Spirit. In his sacred humanity Christ could only be present in one place at a time, in the Holy Spirit he is the Soul of the Mystical Body, making the whole thing work.

Previously the Holy Spirit was seen at work at special times. We read how the old man Simeon was full of the Holy Spirit at the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, above all we see his activity in the Annunciation to our Blessed Lady.

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How can the fruits of the Holy Spirit be most fruitfully received? 'Upon whom shall the Holy Spirit rest' said St. Bernard, 'except upon the man of humility and peace'

These are ambitious virtues because they are the conditions in which the Holy Spirit can act.

A 12th.Century monk of Dryburgh wrote that the vitality of monks depends on their peacefulness. Surely these are qualities which we can cherish in ourselves and promote in the environment in which we live. Archbishop Conti in a remarkable sermon for Maundy Thursday in Glasgow Cathedral said that important qualities in a priest are gentleness and respect.

The Russian Saint Seraphim of Sarov said: 'Be a man of peace and thousands will find salvation near you’. And elsewhere, ‘When a man lives in peace God reveals his mysteries to him’.