Dear friends,
As the Great Fifty Days of Easter conclude today, we celebrate the Holy Spirit of God, generously poured through our hearts and out into the public places of our lives.
With the Resurrection, Christ is no longer in the tomb, contained and confined, no longer rendered timid and silent. With Pentecost, the same liberation erupts in his faithful people, sending them out to speak truly, act justly, and serve sacrificially.
Fittingly, we conclude the Easter season as we began it, with strong symbols of our baptism and the calling that comes from that. We are sprinkled with baptismal water as we recall God’s gift of forgiveness to us. And then, after the profession of our faith, the faith of the Church, we are invited to follow our catechumens, Anthony, Donee and Stephen and their supporters, and come forward and have our hands anointed for the ministry to which our baptism commits us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the privilege and responsibility of sharing practically in the ongoing work of Christ. And so we are charged; “Remember that your hands are the hands of Christ.”
I am delighted when I see members of our community finding a ministry that is uniquely theirs, perhaps finding a just and good cause, and ways of doing something about it. This shows the Spirit pushing us out to do Christ’s work.
And I am delighted that through the Spirit, our community of faith continues to pick up and include new God-seekers. We all need to cooperate for this to happen. Do you have friends or acquaintances, who may be seekers, whom you could invite to join us for the Liturgy, especially on one of the great festivals like Pentecost?
Fr Peter Williams
The Monday to Saturday after Pentecost are Days of Prayer for the Ministry of the Church and for ordinands (Ember Days)
Gracious God, by your Holy Spirit you have appointed various orders of ministry; hear our prayers for all ministers and for those to be ordained or commissioned; maintain them in truth and renew them in holiness, that they may faithfully serve you to the glory of your name and the good of your Church. Amen.
