"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
I was recently asked about the prayer I prayed at the beginning of the Theology On Tap talk. Here it is:
Heavenly King,
Comforter,
Spirit of Truth,
everywhere present and filling all things;
Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life
– come and dwell within our hearts,
cleanse us from all stain,
and save our souls, O Gracious One.
And here it is in audio form:
If you are leading a Bible Study of these Readings, I would suggest reading them in the following order: Gospel, First Reading, Second Reading, Psalm.
This week is probably my favourite feast in the Church’s liturgical year: Pentecost. On the day the Holy Spirit came, three thousand people entered the Church. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that we might see this again in our days…
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
In addition to being the Seventh Sunday in Easter, this Sunday is also Ascension Sunday. This has been an insanely busy week – sorry I didn’t get this posted earlier.
This Sunday we hear a glorious mystery! The Second Glorious Mystery to be precise! Yes, this Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven.
In recent weeks, life among the Apostles had been, to put it mildly, a bit rocky (and not “rocky” in the good, “Peter” kind of way). In fact, things had been pretty awful. The Master had been betrayed, beaten and then killed on a cross. Dark times.
But then, something happened… He rose from the dead! For several weeks He had been appearing to His disciples! Life was good again! But then…what?…He left?
Huh? Things were finally starting to look up! Why did He leave? Did the Lord abandon His Church?