OUR VISITING SEMINARIAN, BARNABAS, WRITES - 24th May

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit.”

There are many striking aspects to this moment of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Jesus does not pick a time when they are triumphant and confident to come to them. Instead, He comes to them through locked doors in a time of fear and hiding. It is remarkable that the Resurrected Christ can pass through physical matter to get to His disciples, but it is more remarkable that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ not only passes through mere physical barriers, but spiritual ones as well, the parts of us that are closed off due to fear and shame. And what does he do once He has entered into that dark place? He shows us His wounds, the very wounds that we have caused, but not to condemn us, but instead to show us that what before brought death is now for God’s glory and victory, and to bring us peace, the peace that only He can give. Finally, having given us the Holy Spirit, He immediately sends us on mission, so that we too may proclaim the Gospel boldly.

Today our young people and Ralph Montilla will receive the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Assisting to prepare our young people to receive this great sacrament during my time at St John’s has been such a privilege, and I ask you to keep them and Ralph in your prayers, that they may be strengthened to proclaim the gospel boldly wherever the Lord sends them in their daily lives.