Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,

The Church, whose birthday we celebrate this day, has invoked a very ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit. “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.” This first part of the prayer reminds us to call upon the Holy Spirit. Jesus, especially in the Gospel of John, spoke often to his disciples about asking for the advocacy of the Holy Spirit. We would do well to heed his advice. He called the Holy Spirit the Advocate and the Paraclete. Both these titles reference care, help, and support.

This ancient prayer does not stop at these first two lines. It continues, “Let us pray, O God who have taught the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that in the same Spirit we may truly be wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Think about this for a moment. God teaches the hearts of his faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit. Our God teaches us by the light of his Spirit. That same Spirit is always moving through our lives. Do we notice it? Do we give ourselves the opportunity to be still to notice the work of God within us? If we are not asking for the help of the Spirit and if we just celebrate Pentecost like just another day on the calendar, how will we ever seek out that special gift of God to us? We can only be instructed if we allow the Spirit to enlighten us.

There is an awakening connected to this prayer. It calls forth an awareness. It expects that each of us will seek out the Holy Spirit and allow us to be created into the beauty God has set forth in each of us.

God intends to set us on fire. This is not a burning fire but a cleansing and renewing fire. The prophet Isaiah offers an image of God as a potter, and we are the clay. “Yet you, Lord, are our Father; we are clay, you the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Is 64:8) Once the pot is finished on the potter’s wheel, it goes into the furnace to be fired and become the beautiful artwork of the potter. God fires our beauty in the kiln of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

As Chaplain of the Cursillo Movement in the Diocese of Gary, I know this prayer well. We pray it at every meeting, with every presentation during our 3-day retreat, and whenever we feel the need for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Our Movement was created to encourage the laity to take Christ’s message at his Ascension seriously. “God make disciples of all nations.” That can only be done with the invocation of the Holy Spirit. May we too become set on fire with the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Tom