June 3, 2022

Dear Friends,

You get a short letter today. Why? Honestly, the letter I was planning on writing this week, will actually work better for next week. So, everything I was planning on saying is going to be put on pause for a week. Don’t worry though, as much as I love silence and can happily sit in a room and avoid talking to people for hours and be content, so too can I ramble when needed. 

As you know, this weekend, we celebrate Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity. In the past two weeks, if you have heard my preaching, you know I have spoken about the coming of the Advocate, the Spirit of God. All the different names that are linked to the Holy Spirit, just as we have for the Father and the Son, help us recognize the Spirit in our lives.

The biggest takeaway we should remember as we celebrate Pentecost this weekend is that we are not alone, and the Spirit is with us, just as the Spirit came upon the followers of Christ so they could go out into the world and evangelize. The call is no different for us.  We may feel like we are not up to the task or that we don’t know enough, but this is where we look for how we can better our knowledge of the Lord. Matthew’s Men, Marthas and Marys, Women of Faith, Bible Study… there are things we can do to know the Lord better. Yes, we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us.  If we don’t refresh ourselves from time to time, we may not have the answers right away. It is like skiing or ice skating. When I was a kid, I used to ski all the time.  When I was younger I ice skated.  I was good at both. However, if I have not skied in a few years, I am not going to jump on a black diamond as my first run. And ice skating, let’s just say roller blading has made me unable to stop well when I ice skate, so I just don’t do it anymore. But I could with more practice and help. 

Let the Holy Spirit help you; however, take the time to engage your spirituality in other ways. Have a happy Pentecost weekend.  Remember, we WEAR RED on Pentecost (someone has to be able to beat my shoes, mask, and vestment combination).

God Bless, 

Fr. Brian 

P.S. I was walking down the street in Heaven and saw a guy selling smoothies made of love, joy, and peace

He said they were fruit smoothies.

To get the above pun, you either needed to hear me preach last week or you can find what you need here.