Pentecost 2020

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

Happy Pentecost! Today we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Jesus ascended into heaven, and He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us here below. The Holy Spirit leads us to our true homeland in heaven. It’s the Holy Spirit who transforms us from within, leading us by changing us into true adopted children of God. The technical term for this transformation is sanctification, ‘making one holy (sanctified)’ or ‘deification’, making one like God. God is preparing us for life with Him, to dwell in the inner life of the Trinity, to be an inhabitant of heaven. Thus, the Holy Spirit transforms us from being a child of this fallen world to become a child of God. That’s the whole point of the Christian spiritual life, and it’s all made possible because of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we celebrate today. 

Practically, that means that we grow not by our own grit and determination, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. We grow by the grace given to us by God. Grace is simply a share in God’s own life– and, as that divine life grows within us, we become like God; we become His adopted children. Therefore, the key to the spiritual life is following the path of grace the Holy Spirit prepares for us. It’s the art of listening to God and following His initiative. Think of it as a dance– learning to be led by our divine partner. Prayer and reading the Scriptures train us to hear God’s lead and opens us to follow. The sacraments in which we participate are the place where the dance takes its highest form, and where we are most transformed by grace. As the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, He empowered the whole dynamic of the Christian life and started the divine dance that culminates in the eternal dance with God in heaven. 

On a practical level, I still have no information about when public Masses will begin. The Archdiocese has stated that public Masses will begin first in the suburbs, and later in the city. I’ll keep you informed as everything progresses.  

God Bless,

Fr. Boniface