June 7: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday's Mass

Most of the time, we think that what is great and gratuitous (freely given, like a gift) must be something rare or intended for someone else. But let’s remember that God’s grace is not like that.

There is a tendency in certain parts of Christianity to consider “the living presence of the Spirit” as something reserved for chosen and select people, but God’s Spirit is always alive in the human heart, since the Spirit is God’s own communication in the innermost part of our existence. This Spirit is communicated to us and given freely, very much as a gift. Also, the Spirit is here, present, wherever life is received and the duties of each day are carried out. God’s Spirit works silently in the heart of ordinary, regular, and simple people, in contrast to the pretension of those who feels themselves the sole possessors of the Spirit.

Pentecost, the Fiftieth Day of Easter and this weekend’s grand Feast, invites us to seek the presence of God’s Spirit in our own selves, not to imagine it as a trophy granted only to the elite. We need to welcome the Spirit of God who is the font of all life, including our life. This is the Spirit who is for everyone, because the immense love of God is present in all the joys and groans, efforts and yearnings that spring from the heart of all God’s children. This is not a rare “happening,” but a constant outpouring from God, to us. Be sure to give Him thanks today for such a gift.