Monday of the 7th Week of Easter
Acts 19:1-8 | Psalm 67:2-7 | John 16:29-33
When he asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit’. (Acts 19:2)
We can laugh at the ignorance of the early believers these days, what with the advent during the last two millennia of, among other things:
- the printing press,
- the formal catechism process, and
- the Internet.
Yet how many of us Catholics could enumerate the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit without asking Big Brother Google? To my shame, I’m not one of them, so I’m taking steps to rectify this, among them:
- looking it up on the Internet,
- blogging about it here, and
- praying about it every morning.
If you have trouble remembering them too, here you go:
Dove not included.
But there’s another interpretation of St. Paul’s question in the context of modern Catholicism: “You believe, and the Holy Spirit has descended on you, but did you let the Spirit into your heart and your life?”
When we are called to judgement on the last day…
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.