This weekend we celebrate the fulfilment of the promise of Christ, that he would not leave us orphans. He does this by sending us the Holy Spirit to be our guide, inspiration and source of all joy and hope. If we enter into the bible accounts we realize that the disciples were very human. The man they love, whom they had thought had died, they then encountered in his fullness as the resurrected one has now finally gone as he ascended up to heaven. They were alone, orphans as it were, starting to think that Jesus had not kept his promise and they were afraid and hid from the authorities. (There are many in the world today both home and abroad who know this fearful situation). But on Pentecost all that is wiped away, Jesus fulfills his promise to them and to us his true latter-day disciples. He not only fills them with the gifts of the Spirit but it overflows in them so much that they go and bear full witness to the world the story of Christ and the crazy truth of the Resurrection. God has truly become their Father and the Lord’s Prayer suddenly becomes the prayer of the orphans who have been adopted by the Spirit.
We too are called to overflow with these gifts for the world. This weekend we give thanks to God for all our younger members who have received this Pentecost moment in the Sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of Bishop Robert. I urge all of you to support them as they work out how to be missionaries of God’s Spirit in their lives and to the world. Share your witness with them. Too often in our society our younger members are dismissed out of hand but their vigor, enthusiasm and hope should be an inspiration to us, and they often prick our consciences, so we need to listen to them. It is often said that the younger members of the community are the Church of tomorrow, this is wholly wrong, they are very much part of the Church alive today. Let us make sure that they know this and take their full part.
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter