May 31, 2020

Dear St. Martin of Tours Family and Friends, Come Holy Spirit!

This is our prayer during this season of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world. Pentecost celebrates the third coming of the Holy Spirit.

The first coming was at the dawn of time, when the Spirit of God hovered over the formless “nothing” of the void, to breathe forth the Universe.

The second coming was when God revealed himself to the People of Israel as they were led through the desert by a fearsome cloud at day and a pillar of fire in the night. This Glory of God – God’s Spirit – was later to make His dwelling in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The third coming is the most special and the most intimate. The Holy Spirit came with flame and love and entered into the hearts of the apostles and the disciples, and in this Love formed the Catholic Church. This is the same Spirit which has held the Church together since that day 1990 years ago, and into which we have been baptized and confirmed.

One reason why the opening up of our churches has been for us a time of rejoicing is because the Holy Spirit was given not individual to individual but to a People, a Family; the place was the Upper Room where the first Eucharist was celebrated. So, too, we as a Family are most complete and fulfilled when we are gathered together in one place, our own “Upper Room,” the place where we celebrate Mass.

I pray this will be a new beginning. A Blessed Pentecost to all!