Celebrant: Filled with the Holy Spirit, we have confidence to present all our needs before the Lord. Deacon/Lector: That the Church, filled with the Spirit of Christ, may be ever renewed to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world, we pray to the Lord... That the wisdom and strength of the Holy Spirit fill all entrusted with public office, we pray to the Lord... That we who have the Holy Spirit as our Advocate may in turn be advocates for the vulnerable, the forgotten, and the unborn, we pray to the Lord... That those completing their studies in various academic institutions may always be grateful to the Holy Spirit for the gift of knowledge, we pray to the Lord... That the sick may experience the presence and healing power of the Holy Spirit, we pray to the Lord... That those who have died – especially those we honor this Memorial Day for serving in our nation’s military -- may be transformed by the Spirit and share eternal life, we pray to the Lord... Celebrant: Father,
Grant us the continuous help
Of Your Holy Spirit.
As you answer our prayers,
Fill our lives with His gifts of grace.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pentecost Voice The Holy Spirit, who came on Pentecost, gave voice to the apostles to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. The Spirit, the Soul of the Church, continues to enable the Church to speak, and enables us to speak in our individual capacity. According to the late Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, who served as President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, “The Church must speak out in today's context on fundamental rights, the right to justice, the right to peace, but above all and in the first place, the right to life. If the Church did not speak, did not proclaim the truth, it would be abandoning its duty; it would be unfaithful to society, to the good of society. Therefore, its precise duty is the very liberty to intervene with word, and also with example -- the example of promoting human life, of intervening for the salvation of mankind."
Vigil: Gn 11:1-9 or Ex 19:3-8a, 16-20b or Ez 37:1-14 or Jl 3:1-5
Rom 8:22-27
Jn 7:37-39 Day: Acts 2:1-11
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
Jn 20:19-23 Watch a video with homily hints Fifty days after the Passover, the People of Israel celebrated “Pentecost,” observing the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, when God wrote the law with his own finger on the tablets of stone. The feast was originally rooted in the celebration of the harvest. It was on that Pentecost Day that the apostles reaped the harvest of the Lord’s Passover of suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection, and received the Holy Spirit, who writes the law on our hearts. This same Holy Spirit who came mightily on Pentecost comes to us. The same Spirit is in us, by our baptism and confirmation – the same Spirit who transformed the apostles, who raises the dead, and who changes bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. That same Spirit is in us, and this should give us tremendous confidence in following Christ. The Holy Spirit, the “Lord and Giver of Life,” brings us back to our truest selves as he illumines us regarding the sanctity of life. The Spirit brings many gifts, and one of them is to enable us to see creation in its proper relationship to God – including the crowning of his creation, the gift of human life. When we do not have this light of the Holy Spirit, the law we have to follow seems like an imposition from the outside that limits our freedom. That’s what people in the world sometimes feel about our attitude toward abortion and euthanasia. They think we are “restricting rights.” But when the Holy Spirit fills us, he gives us an inner attraction to all that is right and good, so that we do not feel pushed where we would rather not go, but rather pulled by the attractiveness of what is good and right. The Holy Spirit is also the Advocate, who pleads our cause. When he fills us, he makes us advocates for all our brothers and sisters in need, including the most vulnerable, the unborn.
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