John 14:15-16, 23-26
Lead in: I’ve always been struck by the idea that we never pray alone. The Holy Spirit, our advocate, prays with us even when we don’t know what to say. (Romans 8:26-28) Yet, we’ve all had times when we felt alone in our problems and found it hard to pray.
Prompt: What helps you when you find yourself feeling that way?
Lead in: The Holy Spirit is our ally, our defender, and our advocate. The Spirit empowers us the way gasoline fires up an engine.
Prompt: Where in your life could you use the power of the Spirit to fire you into action on something you have been putting off doing?
Lead in: Look in the Catechism and you’ll see that there are sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. But like any gift given, if the gifts of the Holy Spirit remain unwrapped, what good are they? A muscle will atrophy unless it is exercised. So, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they will atrophy unless we call on the
Spirit to help us develop them and put them into practice.
Prompt: Of the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, which one feels atrophied and in need of more exercise?
Lead in: In Acts 2:1-11, we hear how when the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples, they began speaking in different tongues yet were understood. Reflecting on this story, it’s been suggested that there were two miracles in this story. The first miracle is the gift of tongues. People speak in ways that people far different from them understand. The second miracle is the gift of ears. People hear for the first time the message that they previously were not able to understand. Today we need both miracles. We need people who have the courage to speak their truth and say it with love. And we need people who are able to listen in a way that they can really hear what the other is saying.
Prompt: Where is it that you need the Holy Spirit to give you the courage you need to speak your truth?
Prompt: In the spirit of the Prayer of St. Francis, where is it that you need the humility to first seek to understand so you can listen with an open heart to what the other has to say?
Lead in: At that first Pentecost, we hear how filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit the disciples were as they went out proclaiming the Good News of the Risen Christ.
Prompt: What is the closest you’ve come to a “Pentecost moment”, a moment where you felt a joy that truly felt like the Spirit alive in you?
