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Fr. Mike examines how the Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ. We explore how the Holy Spirit both inspires the Word of God and recalls the Word of God. Fr. Mike emphasizes that it is the Holy Spirit that helps us hear and understand God’s Word. It is the Holy Spirit that helps elicit a response of consent and commitment within us. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1099-1103.
Click on link to play video: https://youtu.be/snd59NNDR-k
The Holy Spirit has come,
just as Christ promised!
To celebrate, we invite you to
recite the Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
which is prayed every Pentecost
Sunday in honor of the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia.
/ Catholic Company, Good Catholic /
Together, with Fr. Mike, we continue our examination of the sacramental economy, specifically the Holy Spirit’s work in the liturgy. Fr. Mike emphasizes that what Jesus makes possible, the Holy Spirit makes actual. We are made to live in the life of the risen Christ and that is what the Spirit brings about in us. Fr. Mike concludes with a reflection on the importance of understanding that the Christian Liturgy springs from and fulfills the Jewish Liturgy. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1091-1098.
Click on link to play video: https://youtu.be/w2vNSqNXvyM
Mary would have to remind herself whenever she would remember and start to dwell on Jesus’s suffering, that love redeemed it all, and with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, she again saw in a flash of light that love was the reason from all eternity. Jesus came to love us and show us the love of the Father and how we are to love the Father. And with that vision, there seemed no past anymore, or even future. Everything was now, everything was new and exciting in the present. And how marvelous to live in that reality that was a preview of what was to come but more importantly, was already here, happening in her. She was living in the kingdom and all that needed to happen was that moment when she entered and saw the kingdom of love that was already there inside and all around her.
— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM
She is remembering now what she has stored up in her heart all these years. It began the first time she experienced the Light that is God. It dwelled inside the angel’s words, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). That is what happened in the very moment of the angel’s speaking. And she embraced the light that was the words themselves. She said yes to so beautiful a proposal, its light, its love. And she said simply that she was God’s handmaid. May it be done to her according to God’s word spoken by the angel. And the Light then filled her whole being. And the angel left her alone with the light illumining her womb.
— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM
“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” The Catechism uncovers how the Holy Spirit truly builds up the whole Church in the name of Jesus. Fr. Mike dives into the incredibly diverse gifts that the Holy Spirit gives up for the building up of the Kingdom—the charisms. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 797-810.
Click on link to play video: https://youtu.be/nGnzh8fKA9E
Jesus Christ established the Church, but the Holy Spirit continually sanctifies the Church with wisdom, guidance, and charismatic gifts. The Church’s mission is to proclaim and establish the beginning of God’s Kingdom on earth, and we participate in this mission through charity, humility, and self-denial. Fr. Mike helps us understand the seemingly paradoxical idea that the Church is visible and spiritual, both human and Divine. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 767-771.
Click on link to play video: https://youtu.be/94F98zuEmZY
The Church has no other light than Christ’s, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all its holiness. We believe that the Church is “holy,” “catholic,” “one,” and “apostolic.” Fr. Mike explains that Jesus has promised to guide the Church in the truth. Members of the Church are called and uniquely belong to the Lord. We also learn that the word ‘church’ has three inseparable meanings: the liturgical assembly, the local community, and the universal community of believers. The Church draws her life from the body of Christ and so becomes Christ’s body. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 748-752.
Click on link to play video: /https://youtu.be/yqa4vRpCqa4
As we conclude this article on the Holy Spirit, the Catechism teaches us today about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church. Fr. Mike breaks down the four main ways the Holy Spirit is active in the mission of Christ and how the life of the Church completes that mission. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 737-747.
Click on link to play video: https://youtu.be/jHn12HEK7_Y
The working of the Holy Spirit in and through Mary and the Son is a pivotal part of God’s plan of salvation. The Catechism today reveals to us how the Holy Spirit prepared Mary to fulfill the Father’s plan and manifest the Son to humanity. We also learn how the Holy Spirit and the Son work together in a joint mission. Finally, Fr. Mike highlights how Mary’s humility is essential to her role as the “masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 721-730.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/voUIL3F52SM