24/05/2026
Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost: the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church at the beginning of its history, and his continuing presence ever since. We remember that we are the original pentecostal church, a Church born of the Holy Spirit.
The great truth of this feast is that what happened to them happens also to us. As the Holy Spirit came upon that first community in the Upper Room, making them the Church, so the Spirit comes to us again today, to renew and recreate us — as individuals, as a parish, as a whole Church.
Too often we suffer from a kind of inferiority complex, failing to recognise the extraordinary dignity already ours — that we are children of God, and our very bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit, St Paul says, is given to each of us for a good purpose, and is the source of our unity as a Church. Within that body, each of us has something essential to contribute; no one is unnecessary, no one dispensable.
This feast places a simple question before us: are we making room for the Holy Spirit? We need to let God's Spirit animate us, energise us, and awaken in us a deep longing for God and the things of God; to make room for him, and let him challenge us, teach us and guide us.
To receive the Holy Spirit is to be sent. Our mission is to make Jesus present in the world, so that those around us may come to know him and receive eternal life.
Today, and every day, let us pray: Come, Holy Spirit.
Read the full homily at https://www.ourladyofgoodhope.co.za/homily/pentecost2026
