The Holy Spirit is coming!!
Pardon my Paul Revere like greeting. It is one of excitement and anticipation, I assure you. I also- funnily and randomly enough- when reflecting on the Holy Spirit found myself exclaiming a la Lindsey Bluth:
"South Coast Boutique. They're having a Fire Sale?" (hence, the Tobias Funke pic above. One of my fav "Arrested Development" scenes)
We're having a fire sale! ;)
I know, it's a stretch for anticipating the Holy Spirit. (And perhaps this is why I do not get immediate response to my prayers...distraction, much?)
But anywho, Pentecost is coming! And why am I excited like Lindsey Bluth? (also, side note-is it wrong that I find myself identifying with this character all too often?)
It's because Jesus continues to take me through these liturgical seasons pretty literally, apparently. Lately I am feeling kind of clueless like the apostles post Resurrection. There was the death and the drama of the Passion, the peace and joy of Easter....now what?
For Holy Week, my spiritual director asked me to look at the discourse in John Chap. 13-17 where Jesus is essentially saying 'goodbye' to his apostles. Of course, this meant that I sat down to read it on Holy Thursday...(when did I become a procrastinator? old school, overachiever Julia wants to know)
I sat in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel at my parents' parish after the Sacrament was reposed and read the Gospel we had just heard at Mass (John 13). I got to about John 14 and stopped. There was so. much. there. So much that I needed to hear, and every verse was like a swift kick to the head/heart:
verse1: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. " [BAM!] "You have faith in God; have faith also in me". [POW!]
verse 2: "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?" [KAPOW!]
And then there were the tough questions/answers:
verse 4: "Where (I) am going you know the way." [Oh, reeaalllyy, Jesus. Do tell!]
verse 5: "Thomas said to him, 'Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" [cosign, Thomas]
- verse 6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." [Alrighty, then!]
And here's where the Holy Spirit comes in:
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. " (John 14: 16-18)
Awww, that's really beautiful, Jesus! And I really have been praying with these last verses. The daily readings at Mass have been in anticipation of this Advocate, this Holy Spirit. And while Pentecost is still about a month off, boy, am I in need of an Advocate these days! Anyone who wants to speak highly of me FOR me, go right ahead...
(Mr./Ms. Spirit, how are you at job interviews?)
The point is, I need all the help I can get! We all do. We need someone, something willing to fight for us when we are too weak, when we are confused, unable to see/speak. I have amazing friends and family who have been advocating for me for years, but the Holy Spirit is it!
On a slightly different note, the circles our lives seem to go in are frustrating, but there is something comfortingly (think I just made that word up...) familiar about them. Hence, the beauty of the liturgical seasons. Christmas, Advent, Easter, Lent- they all hold past memories and present challenges.
I was looking back at journal entries from earlier this year, and I can't believe the retreat we went on back in January was over three months ago! But it was interesting to see how God led me from the novena of last fall to Advent, to that post-Christmas moment of retreat. And the retreat I went on at the beginning of Lent has led me until right about now.
The Holy Spirit is coming. And I'm trying to cast a big net for some big things this next phase of the liturgical year...
It was on Pentecost 2 years ago that my sister and (now!) brother-in-law came to pick me and all of my stuff up from the convent. It was definitely a sending forth then. The beginning of something new.
Last year, it seems, I was still looking upward rather than outward. I stared up like the apostles and focused more on the Ascension of Jesus and His leaving us on earth.
Regardless of what this next part of the liturgical calendar brings, I've decided I am going to be relying on the Holy Spirit for many things. I don't know why I always forget about It. At Mass today, Father referenced the Holy Spirit as "the forgotten one" of the Trinity. He also said the Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son.
I could use some Holy Spirit-style lovin' and movement in my life right about now! ;) Come, Holy Spirit!
Peace,
Julia
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