05/24/2026
Open Your Heart to the Holy Spirit
Celebrate Pentecost. Be inspired knowing we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to get through anything life on earth brings our way with confidence and hope. The first Pentecost happened fifty days after the Resurrection. It was the moment the Catholic Church was born.
It was a week after the apostles had watched Jesus ascend into Heaven. On the day of Pentecost, they were gathered with Mary praying. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came in a powerful way: a sound “like the rush of a violent wind,” and “tongues…as of fire” settled on them. They were then filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.
Remember this was the day devout Jews from every nation were in Jerusalem. When the apostles spoke, the people heard them “in the native language of each.” Some were amazed; others tried to dismiss what happened. Then Peter proclaimed what the event meant and called people to repentance and conversion. It was just as Jesus promised at the Last Supper, the Father would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to give them wisdom, enabling them to go forth in mission to preach to all people.
The result of Peter’s message was immediate. Many were “cut to the heart,” asked what to do. The answer was repent and be baptized, so they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. About three thousand did that day.
Pentecost is meant to produce a spiritual life. St. Paul reminds us that the gifts of the Holy Spirit dwell within each of us. He teaches that when we live by the Spirit, the Spirit produces tangible “fruit” in daily life. In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul lists what the Spirit brings: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And he adds: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
Holy Spirit Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.