“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” After saying this, he breathed on them, and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit! Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”
LECTIO DIVINA:
Read: The Church is born today. The Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised to his disciples had finally come,
descending upon the apostolic band in a way they could have hardly imagined.
And it filled them with tremendous power and zeal for the Gospel.
Reflect: One can almost feel and taste the power, strength,
and zeal that the experience of the Holy Spirit’s coming gave the apostles as we read the passages for today’s Mass.
No wonder these men and women couldn’t contain themselves and simply went out there and preached the Good News with no hesitation,
no worries, no anxieties, no fear whatsoever. It was like they were new persons; and in a very real sense,
they were – for they had been filled with the fire that only the Holy Spirit can give.
This fire continues to animate and embolden the church, two thousand years after the Spirit came to rest on the apostles.
Pray: Lord, grant that I may feel the fire of your Holy Spirit, just as your apostles did two thousand years ago.
May it give me the courage to proclaim the Good News with all the power and strength I can muster.
Let me spend the rest of my life proclaiming your salvation.
Act: Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit before any endeavor,
most especially one that involves witnessing to your faith in Jesus Christ.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020