Pastor Weekly Message For May 23, 2021

Dear: Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Pentecost, the completion of the Paschal Mystery. This past year as we faced the pandemic, the Holy Spirit has pushed us out of our comfort zone ministering in new ways –parking  lot Masses, Livestream Masses, Zoom Meetings, outdoor Revival and Healing services to name a few. It has been a powerful reminder that the power of the Holy Spirit, does not reside in a church building, but in each one of us, the people of God, wherever, we are. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. Where we are, there is the Holy Spirit.

The chorus of one of my favorite hymns for Pentecost goes like this: Come Holy Spirit, dark is the hour, we need Your filling, Your love and Your mighty power! Move now among us, stir us we pray, Come Holy Spirit, revive your Church today! This is a hymn written over 45 years ago, yet we can all agree, we need a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our world, our country, our church, our families, more now than ever! We need a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we need a New Pentecost!

During the Novena to the Holy Spirit these nine days, we have been praying these same sentiments captured in a prayer for the Church by Pope St. John Paul II on the eve of Pentecost 1998: “what took place in Jerusalem over  two thousand years ago,”… be renewed again; As the Apostles then, we too find ourselves gathered in a large cenacle of Pentecost, longing for the outpouring of the Spirit …Today, from this upper room…, a great prayer  rises: Come, Holy Spirit, come and renew the face of the earth! Come with your seven gifts, Spirit of Life; Come, Spirit of Communion and Love! The Church and the world need you. Come, Holy Spirit, and make ever more fruitful the charisms you have bestowed on us.”

Pope St. John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council with this prayer: “O Divine Spirit, renew your wonders in this our day as by a new Pentecost.” Every pope from Pope John XXIII to Pope Francis has prayed this prayer in one form or another. Yet, we find ourselves with only 17% of the faithful going to Mass, shortage of vocations, little efforts in evangelization – announcing the Good News by our people, resulting in the consolation and closing of parishes.  Where is the New Pentecost?

I believe our current Holy Father, Pope Francis has identified the cause of our problem when he recently said,  “the Holy Spirit cannot enter a heart that is closed.” Ask yourself, is your heart open to the Holy Spirit? Pope Francis has repeatedly challenged the faithful to be docile to the Holy Spirit, not to be afraid of the Holy Spirit, to pray to the Holy Spirit, to experience a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit! The world, our country, our church, our families will experience a New Pentecost when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us. It begins in our heart. Let us all sincerely pray from our heart this Pentecost: “Come, Holy Spirit!”

In Jesus and Mary,
Father Jeff Kegley
Pastor