Today the church celebrates The Feast of Pentecost. On the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the Church was born of God’s Spirit in the heat of fire and the rush of wind, reminding the disciples that God was now within them. Today, Jesus teaches us how the same spirit of God within us can blow away the cobwebs, the fear and confusion, selfishness, pettiness, and the lack of forgiveness, from our hearts and our minds.

Let us pray. O God, who by the mystery of today’s great Feast, sanctify Your whole church in every people and nation. Pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth, and with the divine grace that was at work when the gospel was first proclaimed, fill now once more the hearts of believers. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit. God forever and ever. Amen