Vigil of Pentecost
On the eve of this feast at Vespers, we heard the reading from the prophet Joel telling us that God will pour out the Spirit upon all humankind.
On Pentecost at the Responsorial Psalm, we sing “Lord, send out your Sprit and renew the face of the earth.”
On a note closer to home, we are participants right now in the renewal of earth’s face taking place on our land as the solar energy array rises. What a blessing this is! As important as that renewal is, however, we must look beyond the apparent meaning of those words, to the deeper meaning of Pentecost.
When I thought about this reflection, I decided to look up the gifts of the Spirit – it had been a long time since I recited those gifts verbatim in some religion class. I just wanted to make sure I was getting them right!
Here is what I found:
· There are 7 gifts of the Spirit
· There are 12 fruits of the Spirit
· There are 15 spiritual gifts of the Spirit
· There are 3 Power gifts of the Spirit – I never heard of those!
· and there are anywhere from 20-24 total gifts if you include several more that were named.
Do let me recite them: The first ones may sound very familiar to you just as you learned them at one time: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Self-Control, Chastity, Healings, Miracles, Special Faith, Prophecy, Leadership, and Hospitality! WOW!
Do you know anyone who possesses all of them?
Do you personally possess all of them? - a rhetorical question of course, no public acknowledgment needed.
The best part comes from I Corinthians 12: There are many gifts, but ONE SPIRIT who produces all of them.
As I pondered these gifts given to all who believe in Christ and the Resurrection, I thought primarily of the blessings they bring to the world – not for any one nation, one race, one creed, one gender – but for ALL in one family – the human family.
No one person possesses ALL of them. No one of us probably does. Yet, every person, every one of us, possesses some of these gifts.
These gifts when shared make life possible to be lived in peace and joy. That is what community reveals to us – the ability to live together in peace and joy with one another because of these gifts shared by each person in community. No one person has them all. But together we do.
As we begin on Monday, this new liturgical season of Ordinary Time – which is never ordinary, I encourage us to look for, and see, the gifts brought by each Sister to our community. Some gifts are not as visible as others, but they are there. It takes our desire and willingness to get to know the person, as we seek to find the gifts. May the Spirit move us to open our eyes, minds, and hearts to the gifts of each other, which when discovered, will inevitably renew our own individual lives, the life of our community, as well as the face of the entire earth.