Pentecost

What guides you?

The desires of the Flesh or the Spirit?

This is what St. Paul asked the Galatians. 

The Galatians were baptized in the Spirit

But then they started to return to the ways of the flesh. 

They wanted to gratify the desires of the flesh. 

Immorality, lust, gluttony, jealously, divisions, drunkenness and orgies. 

He warned them that those who live by the flesh and its desires will not inherit the Kingdom of heaven.

For there is no place in Heaven for the desires of the flesh. 

Because the Kingdom of Heaven is Spirit. 

The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. 

It is not easy however to ignore the desires of the flesh. 

It always wants more. 

More Pleasure, More Power, More Food, Drink, Property, More Possessions and Money;

This is why those who live in the flesh will never be happy or satisfied. 

The flesh is a ravenous monster that says “Feed me.”

The more one feeds the flesh 

The hungrier it gets. 

This is why we need the Holy Spirit. 

Not just at Pentecost. 

But everyday!

For the flesh wakes up hungry everyday. 

And so everyday we must pray,

Come Holy Spirt Come!

So that everyday we are led not by the desires of the flesh

But by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Saturday before Pentecost

All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. *

Acts 1:14 

And so before Pentecost, like the disciples we gather in prayer with the Mother of Jesus and say. 

Mary, Mother of Jesus and our mother, teach me to be open and responsive to the hidden power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. Following your example, may I always listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking in my heart. As the Holy Spirit formed Christ in you, may He form Christ in me so that I may live by the Spirit and be led by the Spirit in all my actions. 

V.  Mary, Temple of God and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. 

R. Pray for me. 

Friday before Pentecost

 The Fire of the Holy Spirit

When Moses saw the burning bush on Mount Sinai,

He saw that it was burning but not consumed. 

Fire usually consumes what it catches and leaves nothing behind but dust and ashes. 

This is the way of the world. 

It seeks to consume us and use us until there is nothing left. 

Not the Holy Spirit. 

When the soul catches fire by the Holy Spirit. 

It becomes Fire. 

We become like the burning bush,

On fire with love for God and one another. 

On fire with  a love that is never consumed yet at the same time burns endlessly. 

Thursday before Pentecost

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

While God is everywhere,

Temples however are unique dwelling places of God. 

Places where God chooses to be present and dwell in intimate ways. 

Where God reveals Himself not through creation,

But directly to the soul. 

This is why Temples are consecrated and set apart Temple for God alone.

We were created to be Temples of the Holy Spirit. 

Where God is present to us and speaks directly to our hearts and souls. 

If then, we are Temples of the Holy Spirit, 

all idols must be thrown out of our hearts and souls. 

So that we can be intimately united to God alone. 

What attitudes and actions exist in us that keep us from becoming

One Body, one Spirt in Christ. 

Wednesday before Pentecost

Mary and the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is an annunciation and a conception of the church to give birth to Christ in the world.

The gift of God will come to each person as it came to the Virgin Mary.

Mary is indispensable for she is the model of the soul. Receptive, cooperative, obedient, humble, spousal.) 

The Holy Spirit will only come to us 

if we are receptive, if our hearts are open to God and closed to everything else. 

If we are cooperative with Holy Spirit and not resistant to the Spirits promptings. 

If we are obedient to the commands of God and not our personal desires. 

If we are humble, for when receiving such a Divine gift we may think that we are something special and deserving and not the handmaid of the Lord. 

And if we are spousal.  To be espoused to the Holy Spirit is to be united in love forever. 

And to desire anything or anyone else is spiritual adultery. 

If we are, then the Holy Spirit will come and overshadow us and Christ will be conceived in our hearts and souls. 

Tuesday before Pentecost

 The Dewfall of the Holy Spirit 

In the Second Eucharistic prayer at Mass we hear how the Holy Spirit comes down upon the gifts of bread and wine like the “Dewfall.”  What does that mean?

When the Israelites were starving in the desert, 

God gave them manna to eat. 

In the morning,

The ground was covered with dew;

And when the dew lifted,

There was manna on the ground for them to eat. 

And this manna was their nourishment and strength 

For 40 years as they wandered through the desert. 

To the Promised Land. 

At every Mass,

We receive Manna from heaven!

After the Holy, Holy Holy,

The priest puts his hands over the hosts and the chalice,

And The Holy Spirit comes down upon them

Like the dewfall. 

And the bread and wine are transformed 

Into the Body and Blood of Christ

For our nourishment and strength,

As we wander through this world 

To the Promised Land Of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Monday before Pentecost

 Daily Consecration to the Holy Spirit

Most Holy Spirit!

Receive the consecration that I make of my entire being. 

From this moment on, come into every area of my life and into each of my actions. 

You are my Light, my Guide, my Strength and the sole desire of my heart. 

I abandon myself without reserve to Your Divine action and 

I desire to be ever docile to your inspirations. 

O Holy Spirit!

Transform me with and through Mary, into another Christ Jesus, for the glory of the Father the the salvation of the world. 

By Servant of God

Felix de Jesus Rougier, M. Sp. S.