Pentecost: The Spirit That Still Renews the World

So dear friends, Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, the disciples who were in the upper room in fear, frightened, uncertain, awaiting that Advocate, that Counsellor, that Consoler the Lord Jesus had promised them. And so Pentecost is also known as the birthday of the Church because when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, upon the disciples, they became fearless and courageous and went out to spread that Good News and that Gospel which our Lord had given them and asked them to do, to spread to the ends of the earth. So, dear friends, that same Holy Spirit which was alive has not disappeared.

 

That Spirit was alive, is alive, and will be alive because as our Lord tells us in the Gospel of John 14:16-17, in his words, and I quote, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate." to be with you forever.

 

Those are our Lord's words, his promise, that that Spirit, that Advocate, that Consoler, that Counsellor would be with us forever until the end of time. So, dear friends, we celebrate the birthday of our Church, the birthday of Christianity, the birthday of our faith. So I invite you, dear friends, to pray together with me. Come, Holy Spirit, renew the world. Renew my family, renew my heart, renew my neighbourhood, renew Ellesmere Port.

 

And so I invite you to join us, this brilliant and lively community of faith here at Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Bernard and St. Saviour's in Ellesmere Port, to pray together and to celebrate our faith and to go out like the disciples, like the apostles, and spread the good news and spread the joy of that Spirit which is at work.

 

So may God bless you. And have a fruitful and a blessed Pentecost.