by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest,
And in our hearts take up Thy Rest;
Come with Thy Grace and Heavenly Aid
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made. …
O Comfort Blessed, to Thee we cry,
Now Heavenly Gift of God Most High;
Thou Fount of Life, and Fire of Love,
And Sweet Anointing from Above ….”
“Come Holy Ghost,” by Louis Lambillotte, S.J. (1796-1855), performed by “The Singing Nuns”
“… the heart of all Catholics knows … there is no doubt how much reverence is due to this day, which the Holy Spirit has Consecrated with the matchless wonder of His Gift. In fact, this is the tenth day since the day in which the Lord rose to the Heights of Heaven to take His Seat on the Right Hand of the Father and the fiftieth day since His Resurrection. … * * * How fast the discourse of wisdom is, and where God is the Teacher how quickly one learns what is taught! … the words of each nation become common in the mouth of the Church. Since that day showers of charisms and streams of Blessings have watered every desert and every wilderness (cf. Is 35:6), for in order to renew the face of the earth (cf. Ps 103:30), ‘God’s Spirit hovered over the waters’ (Gen 1:2) … to dispel the old darkness flashes of a new light appeared … from the splendor of sparking tongues sprang the ardent Word of the Lord and His Fiery Destiny (cf. Ps 18:9) … efficacy to enlighten and strength to burn … to form minds and conquer sin. …”
“… Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord … Simeon … was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. … and when the parents brought in the child Jesus … he took Him into his arms and blessed God …. There was also a prophetess, Anna … she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. …”
“R. (52b) Glory and praise for ever!
‘Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.’ …”
“… ‘The Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
* * *
‘… Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.'”‘”
“… The Athanasian Creed, written around the fourth or fifth century, puts it this way: ‘We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.’ …”
“… On the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we do well to remember that we are pondering a mystery that cannot fit in our minds. A mystery, though, is not something wholly unknown. In the Christian tradition, the word “mystery” refers to (among other things) something that is partially revealed, something much more of which remains hidden. As we ponder the Trinity, consider that although there are some things we can know by revelation, much more is beyond our understanding. Let’s ponder the Trinity by exploring it, seeing how it is exhibited in Scripture, and observing how we, who are made in God’s image, experience it. …”
“… The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”.56 The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin”…. ”
“What a wondrous and challenging feast we celebrate at Pentecost! A feast like this challenges us because it puts to the lie a lazy, sleepy, hidden, and tepid Christian life. The Lord Jesus said to Apostles, and still says to us, I have come to cast a fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). This is a feast about fire, a transformative, refining, purifying fire that the Lord wants to kindle in us and in this world. It is about a necessary fire. For as the Lord first judged the world by fire, the present heavens and the earth are reserved for fire. Because it is going to be the fire next time, we need the tongues of Pentecost fire to fall on us to set us on fire and bring us up to the temperature of glory.”
“The giving of the Spirit to the new people of God crowns the mighty acts of the Father in salvation history. …”