May 24, 2026
Solemnity of Pentecost
Today, we celebrate Pentecost, the great Solemnity of the Holy Spirit.
As I prepare this reflection, I recall a small incident from more than a half-century ago.
My Sunday morning charge was to teach the weekly Confirmation class to eight and nine-year-olds. Their charge was to have studied their preparatory catechism throughout the intervening week. Neither of us was good at these charges, yet we both persevered.
Confident that every youngster would have equal knowledge to Thomas Aquinas, I called little Mary Beth to my side one Sunday and asked her, “Who is the Holy Spirit?”
In beautiful innocence, she responded, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s some kind of a bird.”
Having been heavily influenced by religious illustrations, no one in the class chuckled – including me, because I was then, and am still now, unable to define the Holy Spirit. And I hope I stay that way.
The “spirit” of anything is impossible to define fully. “Spirit” has to be felt and lived in order to be made manifest. Trust me. Just try to define the “spirit” of your family, neighborhood, workplace, or team in 4000 words or fewer, as Aquinas attempted to define the Holy Spirit! (See Summa Theologiae, First Part, Section 36: https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1036.htm
When I think of the Holy Spirit, I think of Her as Divine Poetry, that inexpressible Presence that invisibly generates all life and truth – a Presence released in one’s life only by a full entrustment to faith, hope, and love – the gift of the sacrament of Confirmation.
Like poetry, relationship with the Holy Spirit changes one’s perception of reality. We see that, as with an iceberg, much of truth is hidden beneath life’s surface. The Holy Spirit allows us see with God’s eyes and God’s hope for the world. The “ordinary” becomes “gracefully extraordinary”. The new vision impels us to act as God would act in the world.
Percy Bysshe Shelley said this about poetry, and I think it holds for the Spirit as well:
“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world,
and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”
For me, a good way to pray with the Holy Spirit is to relish, line by line, the beautiful Pentecost Sequence. Find a phrase within the Sequence that most touches your heart and soul at this particular time in your life. Let go of definitions and invite that phrase to bless you with the Holy Spirit’s Love.
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
From Your bright and blissful Home
Rays of healing light impart
Come, Defender of the poor
Source of gifts that will endure
Light of ev’ry human heart
You of all consolers best
Of the soul most kindly Guest
Quick’ning courage do bestow
In hard labor You are rest
In the heat You do refresh
And solace give in our woe
O most blessed Light divine
Let Your radiance in us shine
And our inmost being fill
Nothing good by man is thought
Nothing right by him is wrought
When he spurns Your gracious Will
Cleanse our souls from sinful stain
Lave our dryness with Your rain
Heal our wounds and mend our way
Bend the stubborn heart and will
Melt the frozen, warm the chill
Guide the steps that go astray
On the faithful who in Thee
Trust with childlike piety
Deign Your sevenfold gift to send
Give them virtue’s rich increase
Saving grace to die in peace
Give them joys that never end
Amen. Alleluia
Music: The Pentecost Sequence, sung by the Church of the Holy Family in Katong, Singapore
Suggested Scripture: Acts 2:1-4
For Your Reflection:
- What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
- Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
- What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Lavish Mercy 