FAMILY VOCATION PRAYERS

Jesus, You are the Good Shepherd who is always mindful of your Church. Watch over those who are baptised in your name, and grant peace and harmony to all families. Bless all parents, and help them to find peace and happiness through their vocation. We ask you to help all children and young adults to discover the vocation that will enable them to live life to the full as they become their best selves in the service of God’s kingdom. We make this prayer in your name.
Amen

PENTECOST

REFLECTION

The memory of it haunts me still, twenty-five years on … the shrieks and screams by bystanders on the pier as her blond curls disappeared down into the waves … the bold courage of the nearby fisherman as he quickly whipped off his clothes and plunged bravely into the depths…the agonising wait as we all stood there willing him to reappear … and then the utter shock of seeing her lifeless body being carried from the water, dripping wet … as he lay her down gently on the sunny steps. In my childhood trauma, I was sure that she was gone ,,, but very calmly, he closed his eyes and breathed into her lungs … again and again and again … the minutes seemed endless until suddenly there was a twitch, then a flicker, then a violent splutter as she wretched the sickening salt water from her chest …

From death back to life…
From despair back to hope …
From darkness back to light …

The combination of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John tells the dramatic story of a group of people initially numbed by fear, who, in the breath of God began to splutter again with life as they came up from the depths.
Have you ever met anyone who seemed to you to be alive in body but dead in spirit?
Perhaps the disciples were somewhat like that as the gathered in that room. John, in the opening verses hints that all was not well, it was evening – the end of everything. The doors were closed, perhaps reflecting something of the inner disposition of the disciples. And most crucially of all, the disciples were imprisoned by fear. Arguably psychologists might tell us today, the most debilitating of all the human emotions.
Reading Acts and the Gospel as one story, there is the classic literary exposition of action and reaction. The action of the Spirit in the breath of Jesus or, if you like, tongues of fire, followed by the reaction of the apostles as they began to take their first faltering steps in the shoes left vacant by Christ. Surely, the authenticity of that first Pentecost is still evident today in the many and diverse Pentecost experiences happening all around us, inspiring us to believe, just in case we ever begin to drown in waves of despair, that in the breath of God, where there’s life – in fact even where there’s no life – there’s hope.

Fr. Joe McGrath, Longford

PRAYER

Spirit of God, breathed into our hearts in Jesus’ resurrection lift us up with new life, new courage, new passion today.
Spirit of God, breathed into our midst in Jesus’ resurrection transform us with new fellowship, new vision, new joy today.
Spirit of God, breathed into the world in Jesus’ resurrection work through us to change the face of the earth.