Pentecost 2023

This morning at Lauds we heard a dialogue between Elisha and Elijah just before Elijah was to depart from this earth.  Elisha was no doubt feeling sad, and perhaps scared, at the thought that he would now have to act on his own as a prophet of God. Elijah told Elisha to ask for whatever he could do for him before he departed.  

So Elisha asked if he “could receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.”  

Quite a request, which really wasn’t possible for Elijah to execute.  That could only come from God.   As we know, Elisha did receive a spirit that enabled him to become a powerful and sought after prophet of the Lord.

Tomorrow we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, considered to be the Birthday of the Church, at which God sends to us the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our time:  Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.  We all probably had to learn those 7 gifts before we were confirmed, if not earlier.  But for most of us, they were not much more than words at the time we learned them.  

So, what do they mean to us now?  Or what would we wish to have them mean in our lives?  Wisdom – to be able to know how to bring justice to a world torn by diversity and alienation; Understanding - of differences of thought and actions between ourselves and others; Counsel - so that we might be able to help others live more fully and with grace;

Fortitude - to offer strength and courage to others when they face adversity, like the ravages of war; Knowledge – to let others know that Christ continues to bear our burdens and heal a broken world, even when it is not so visible; Piety – fidelity to our beliefs, our way of life, our faithfulness to God -- Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier, not just for ourselves, but so that our faithfulness can be shared with others;  Fear of the Lord – a submission of our lives to God in humility and faith.  

Today we are the one’s asking for God to bless us with these gifts of the Spirit. But we have already been blessed by our Baptism and call to this life.  We have only to open our hearts daily to continually receive these gifts, as Christ offered them following the Resurrection.  Let us pray for the courage to accept these gifts, in order that we may in turn share them with others.