Pentecost

In the opening prayer for this Pentecost Sunday, we ask that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be poured out across the face of the earth and we ask that our hearts will be filled with these gifts.

Some of you might remember the time when Pope John XXIII asked everyone, before the opening of the Second Vatican Council, to pray asking the Holy Spirit ‘to renew your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost.’ We know that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit transformed the apostles from being fearful and timid people, locked away, into people confident to face the world and share with all the good news of Christ risen from the dead.

Pentecost is not a past event, but something that still needs to be happening in the Church today. St Pope Paul VI said that ‘the primary need of the church is to live out Pentecost at all times.’ The experience of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is offered to every one of us. Let us ask for this outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives now.

Fr Pat Collins CM in his book Gifted and Sent wrote that, if you wish to ask and pray for an in-filling of the Holy Spirit, begin by answering these questions:

Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died to free me to new life?

Will I follow Jesus as my Lord?

Then when you make your profession of faith, say the following prayer, with sincerity of heart and expectant trust:

Lord Jesus Christ, I want to belong more fully to you from this time forward.

I want to be freed from the power of sin and the evil one.

I want to enter more completely into your kingdom to be part of your people.

I will turn away from all wrongdoing, and I will avoid everything that leads me to wrongdoing.

I ask you to forgive all the sins that I have committed.

I offer my life to you and I promise to put you first in my life and to seek to do your will.

I ask you now to drench, soak and inundate me with your Holy Spirit.

I believe that your spiritual hands are upon me, and that the red light of your mercy and the white light of your love are flooding my body, mind and soul.

I thank you Lord that, even as I pray, you are responding to my request, because it is so, in accord with your loving desire for me.

Amen

If you want to know about renewal events that are taking place in the UK follow this link: https://www.charisuk.com/