+JMJ+

Dear friends,

Come, Holy Ghost!

This Sunday we keep the great solemnity of Pentecost, or "Whitsunday" as it is commonly called in the English tradition. We remember that on this day God the Holy Ghost, filled and empowered the infant Apostolic Church to give witness to the good news of Jesus "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Pentecost has not been revoked! Still the Spirit fills, empowers, and guides the Church - you and me! - in the joyful work of the Gospel.

In the calendar of the Ordinariates the "octave" of Pentecost has been restored - the entire week, Sunday to Sunday, becomes one long and festive liturgical day. This octave, especially for a missionary enterprise like the Ordinariates, reminds us of the Spirit's continuing presence and power among us - again, precisely for the work of ministry.

As we celebrate Whitsunday and as we approach the fifth anniversary of our community's founding on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Sunday, June 3rd), I ask you to pray that we would have a renewed awareness of and reliance upon the Spirit's gifts to us, so that, like the Apostles on the morning of Pentecost, we too might give joyful and bold witness to the resurrection of Jesus, and that many might be added to our number of peaceful, happy Catholics.

To that end, and inseparably from it, I ask you - members and friends alike - to attend the parish meeting planned for Saturday, June 2nd, as we begin reasoning and praying together about the next steps in our community's life (which is to ask, where are we going? how may we give ourselves more fully to the Spirit's ministry of witness to Jesus?), and also to join with us for Evensong & Benediction in celebration our Fifth Anniversary on Corpus Christi, our "titular solemnity," on Sunday, June 3rd.

See you Sunday, and God bless you,
Fr Allen