We are drawing to the end of the season of Easter, having just celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. Shortly we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Christ’s gift to us of a guide and advocate to be with us and support us through our journey of discipleship.
While this journey is never easy, Jesus left us well prepared. He promised us that God’s love for us is eternal and that if we truly love Him that love will abide in us. Jesus promised to fill us with His peace in order that whatever we face we can draw on His peace and face life without fear. With God’s constant love filling us with love we should seek always to share that love in a world that sometimes seems unloving.
Filled with the Peace of Christ our lives are lived with our inner turmoil calmed and an ability to respect and love all, even if we do not understand or agree with them. We can respect all peoples because we love them as God loves us. When the Church or the world seem filled with changes that confuse us we turn to our guide, the Holy Spirit, with His help and drawing on the love we share with God and the peace of Christ which fills us, we can calmly seek a way forward.
Recently we have seen examples where people have acted out of fear, confusion or hatred physically, as in the attacks in New Zealand, Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, or in verbal expressions of aggression and hatred in recent political situations around the world.
We have been given tremendous gifts, of love, peace and the Holy Spirit. It seems that the world is in desperate need of these gifts and as Christ’s disciples it is our calling to share them wherever we can.
At Pentecost the disciples were hiding, full of fear until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The world did not change, the challenges they had to face did not change but the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to face the challenges filled with peace of Christ and the love of God.
May the gift of the Holy Spirit release in us the power of God’s love and the peace of Christ.
Jim
Priest-in-Charge
