Gift of the Spirit
Blessings as we ‘officially’ begin the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere! It is a season that we associate with flowers in full bloom, warm temperatures, vacations and often celebrations of weddings, graduations, anniversaries, and reunions.
In our church, the season is named ‘ordinary time’ because the feasts of Advent, Christmas, Lent/Easter/Pentecost have been celebrated and we are into the long stretch of everyday life! As we live through this ordinary time, I want to invite our readers to reflect on the extraordinary gift we carry within us, and which was celebrated recently in the feast of Pentecost – that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit within us.
I was profoundly moved by the writings of different commentaries I read when we celebrated Pentecost. Often, we speak of Jesus giving us the Spirit before he completed his post-resurrection presence among his disciples. However, in truth, we would not know Jesus without the Spirit. The Spirit has been with us forever.
Theologian, Marjorie Suchocki, refers to the Spirit as God’s power, wisdom, and presence. We might ask ourselves if we believe that. Do we believe that the Spirit is with us, ourselves and other people? Even a glimpse of understanding the gift of the presence of the Spirit within could change our relationships profoundly.
I invite you to ponder if more awareness of the gift of the Spirit’s presence would have changed the recent conversations you had with members of your family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues. If more people were aware of the gift of the Spirit, we can wonder what the tone and quality of our national and international peace negotiations would be. As we ponder the gift of the Spirit, let us remind ourselves of the line of the hymn that says, “let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Summer blessings!
Margaret Hoey,smr