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| Reflecting on next Sunday’s Gospel BEFORE Mass can bring so much more meaning to your experience of liturgy. Each week we print the following Sunday’s Gospel with some questions for reflection and discussion. ENJOY | |
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Gospel for May 18, 2008 Most Holy Trinity ~ John 3:16-18 |
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On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When He had said this he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” |
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| Pentecost celebrates the fiftieth day of Easter-a time of fullness and grace. It is a time for God’s creative Spirit to do something new, to re-create the world beginning in the upper room, with fire and wind, breath and water, filling human lumps of clay with the Holy Spirit of God. Pentecost is sometimes also referred to as the “birthday of the Church.” This can be misleading because it implies an anniversary, rather than a day of beginning. Pentecost does not commemorate the founding of an affiliation, but a way of life. We are called to live the gospel. Pentecost is a day that reminds us not to be observers but participants. Here are some reflection questions to help us review how we are doing just that. | |
| REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Which element-fire, water, breath or earth-do you associate with the Holy Spirit? Why? Describe an occasion when you resolved a misunderstanding with another person through | |
| QUESTION FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: Think of a moment when you were outside on a very windy day. What did the wind feel like? Why do you think the writer of the gospel uses the image of a strong wind to describe the Holy Sprit? Describe a time when you helped someone when they were feeling sad. How did that make you feel? | |