Easter: Day Fifty, Pentecost Sunday May 23, 2010

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the last day of Easter. Today is the day the Holy Spirit filled the hearts of the apostles and gave them the gifts to fulfill the journey Jesus had set out for them.

Many of us live today in the darkness of Hell which is simply the absence of God in our lives. In this darkness we seek happiness from everything outside of ourselves instead of seeking true happiness which is the Trinitarian life of God which lives within all of us. Because we seek happiness outside, we tend to be very critical and judgmental of others. We do this because we expect that others will give us the happiness we seek. And if we cannot get that happiness from another, we seek it in things. It could be houses, cars, etc or it could be alcohol, drugs, etc.

We can live in the joy and light of Heaven here on earth when we discover the Trinitarian presence of God within. When we do this, we discover the sin in our own lives and it humbles us. Remember that pride was the first sin and continues to be the first sin. Our humility over our own weaknesses and faults will allow us to be compassionate, understanding and caring for those God has put into our lives. We can then find something good to say about the other each and every day where before we could only find something bad to say about the other. Seek God first and all good comes from that seeking. He lives the Trinitarian life within which is the love of God the Father for the Son and the love of God the Son for the Father which love produces the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit desires to give us gifts -

• The gift of wisdom, by detaching us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of heaven.
• The gift of understanding helps us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary.
• The gift of counsel springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation.
• By the gift of fortitude we receive courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice of our religious duties.
• The gift of knowledge points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach heaven.
• The gift of piety, by inspiring us with a tender and filial confidence in God, makes us joyfully embrace all that pertains to His service.
• Lastly, the gift of fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him.
  (Taken from New Advent - a great resource on the web)

And from the gifts of the Holy Spirit proceed the fruits which are our actions. You can tell that we are alive with God by the way we live. Those fruits are -
 St. Paul (Galatians 5:22-23): "But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity." 
(Taken from New Advent)
God yearns to give you the fullness of life. His love never fails and is always unconditional. If you grew up with a punishing God then you have much to learn. He is love - pure love - and love cannot not love!!
God bless!!