Dear friends in Christ

We have rejoiced—last Thursday—in the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. In these days we pray, as did the Apostles, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In these closing days of Easter season, it is a good idea to remind ourselves of the significance of the liturgical season—the unique calendar of the Church—through which we celebrate and live our Catholic Faith. St Augustine in his commentary on the Psalms has this to say:

There are these two periods of time—the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy—we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the ‘Alleluia' we sing.

As we gradually emerge from the imposed isolation and uncertainty of the last year, like the Apostles at Pentecost, we do so joyfully and with confidence in the time ahead. I hope you may have had the opportunity to read the reflection from our Bishops which we published in the Newsletter last week on The Day of the Lord. I found their words on our emerging from lockdown, the importance of Sunday, the Holy Mass and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament hugely positive and helpful. Do go back and read it if you have not already done so.

As we approach Pentecost we should be offering each day some prayer or invocation to God the Holy Spirit: Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium…Come, Holy Spirit, renew the face of the earth…the face of the Church and the face of our lives!

With my prayers and blessing!

Msgr Kevin Hale