Pentecost-birthday of the ChurchOn May 23, 2010, we will again celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is sometimes called “the birthday of the church.” It is the celebration of the Holy Spirit coming upon the church and upon us. This is a celebration of great joy in a time that many suffer sadness and loss, anger, confusion and doubt. For such are the times we are in. Many whose faith weren't solid to begin with, are leaving the Church every day. Even though the clergy scandal involves only a fraction of the 400,000 priests in the world, it has each and every Catholic concerned and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and why all this had to happen at all. As I receive daily news reports from Catholic and non-Catholic sources, not a day goes by without some derogatory message about the Church in general, a particular priest or parish, and the message of the Gospel "love God and your neighbor as yourself" is hidden under all that. It may be the birthday of the Church but I'm not singing happy birthday, this year. Instead, I am asking God for His Wisdom, to teach us what to do. I ask for all of you, to deepen your faith in God, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, to find it in your heart to forgive those who have wronged our trust. Let us, on this Pentecost turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was present at the first Pentecost with the Apostles and followers of Jesus, the Lord. Let us ask her, for her intercession, to heal our Church, to bring purification and forgiveness. There have been special interventions of Mary in the past. "Christ is the only way to the Father (Jn. 14:4-11), and the ultimate example for the Christian. The Catholic Church has always taught this and nothing in its pastoral activity should obscure this teaching. The Church has taught, however, by the Holy Spirit and by the benefit of centuries of experience, that authentic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary has a great pastoral effectiveness and constitutes a force for renewing Christian life. Ultimately, Mary challenges us with the person and message of Jesus: "Do whatever he tells you." (Jn. 2:5)" (ibid.) "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit."..."God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"' This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son. (Catechism of the Catholic Church #683) (Also see: God's love for us: The Holy Spirit). On Pentecost 2010, can we just pray the Holy Rosary, for renewal in our Church, and for healing. Put your trust in the Mother of Jesus, and in her beloved Son. Fred Schaeffer, SFO © 2010. Fred Schaeffer, SFO |
She appeared at Fatima in Portugal in 1917 with a message of prayer and reparation for the salvation of souls. Our Holy Father, is in Fatima right this very minute, May 13th, the anniversary of Mary's appearance there. On Sunday, May 13, 1917, ten year old Lúcia Santos and her younger cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were tending sheep at a location known as the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima in Portugal. Lúcia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun."