Pentecost

St Bernard of Clairvaux called the Holy Spirit “the kiss of the Father”.

‘If, as properly understood, the Father is he who kisses, the Son he who is kissed, then it cannot be wrong to see in the kiss the Holy Spirit, for he is the imperturbable peace of the Father and the Son, their unshakeable bond, their undivided love, their indivisible unity’. 

The Holy Spirit is the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father. It is boundless; when the breath of God is poured on the disciples at Pentecost they are sent from the Holy Land to the world beyond. God sends them out of the familiar and we too find ourselves sent beyond our comfort zones because all belongs to God.

In early times as in Exodus 38:11 if anyone wanted to consult the Lord, they would go to the meeting tent outside the camp. Outside our churches, our culturally conditioned beliefs and perceptions, ‘outside our camp’ is where we are sent as God cannot be controlled by us and in this way we discover who we truly are.

Mother Teresa dared to leave her cloister, her home and look for God among the dying on the streets of Calcutta. Our spiritual life is lived in the dynamic of living in God’s love and sharing God’s love, as Mother Teresa said, ‘the problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small’.

‘The spiritual life is being caught up in the heady atmosphere of God, the dizzy oxygen of God’s breathing that never lets us quite catch our breath’ T. Radcliffe.

Gentle Spirit, breathe your life into us,

Strong Spirit, open our closed doors to you,

Universal Spirit, inspire us to work for justice

Spirit of Jesus, teach us to walk, to pray, to live, to love your way.

Awaken our dreams, expand our horizon, send your healing and hope

through Jesus Christ our Lord.