Pentecost Sunday

Our readings for Pentecost Sunday are:

1. Act 2: 1-11
2. Psalms 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
4. John 20: 19-23

• Speaking my language
• When I was young, we heard a great deal about the Wycliff Bible translators.  Their mission was to put the Word of God into everyone's hands, written in their native language.  Which was quite an ambition, particularly for languages that had never been written before.
• What are some things that make others different from you, that make it hard to minister to them?
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Depth of need
• Emotional state
• ...
• When someone tells you that no one understands them, what is your first reaction?
• How could you be more understanding?
• Is that worth it?

• The earth is full of God's creatures
• The earth's biodiversity is mind-boggling to think about.  The environments, some very harsh by our standards, where plants and animals can survive, even thrive, the variety of living creatures on the earth, the amazing ways that they cope with the challenges of their environment, are all breath-taking.
• Why so much diversity?
• Do you wonder if God is just showing off?
• Do we really need every one of those species?
• What does it really mean for us to be stewards of this land that we inhabit?

• Are you gifted?
• All of us want to feel "gifted", extraordinary in some way.  Secretly, we all wish that we had some sort of a superpower that made us stand out, helped to define us.  Herbert Alphonso, S.J. has a wonderful little book: Discovering Your Personal Vocation that tells us that all of us are gifted, all of us unique, that each of us has a name given us by God alone, and that this name is as much a part of us as the color of our eyes.
• What is your name?  It might be "healing presence", or "the goodness of God", "God with His people", "voice of the afflicted", "supporter of the forgotten", or ...
• How are you living out that sacred name in your life?
• Are there changes that you need to make so that you can be more true to your name?

• The glorious wounds
• Ronald Rolheiser has a wonderful meditation on St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross here.  Jesus shows His disciples His wounds, not as some sort of masochistic ID card that He has to flash, but an astonishing revelation about resurrection.
• When you think of the word healing, what comes to mind?
• What are some things that have happened to you that you crave healing for?
• What would you be like if you were healed of that?
• If Jesus were before you, in the flesh, right now, and He told you that you could be healed of that, what would He ask of you?
• What's stopping you?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God calling me to meet someone different from me?
2. How am I thanking God for His gifts to me and my community today?
3. Where is God inviting me into my true name?
4. Where is God resurrecting me?

Shalom!