“Filled with the Holy Spirit…” – Acts 4.8

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

The first reading begins by telling us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had burst into the lives of the apostles transforming them and the world around them. The apostles were excited by the coming of the Holy Spirit. This gift of God’s life and love in the third person of the Trinity brings new life and new possibilities.

Over the next three Sundays, we welcome into our community those candidates preparing to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is exciting for us too. These younger members of our community are sharing with us their desire to be fully alive in the life and love of God. They are sharing with us their desire to be fully a part of the Christian community and all that we are and do.

And we should be excited about the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives as well. In just four weeks, we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost, that first experience of the Holy Spirit coming down on the apostles and the gathered community. It is in this season of the Diocesan Synod, that we have been calling on the Holy Spirit, eagerly seeking what it is the Spirit is saying to us in this time.

Let us continue to pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will come, and come in a powerful way into the life of this community, into the lives of these young people and indeed, into the lives of all of us.

Come Holy Spirit!

Come like a rushing wind!