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Monday, June 1, 2009

Pentecost Monday


This picture is of Scotland and reminds me of my friends there and the wonderful trip I had to see them last September. We even had great weather! Since then, I have enjoyed reading Scottish authors, staying in touch by e-mail, and hoping to have more from Scotland join the International Online Program.

None of the above has much to do with Pentecost Monday except that I do remember that some countries in Europe still had a holiday and wonder if this is still true.
I want to share some of my thoughts on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, but in the meantime (I need more personal reflection before I put out something to be read by all), I shall share two quotes that I love and which the virtual community of prayer will recognize as being part of Dawn's prayer service for Pentecost:

"Knowing that grace is assured us, and allowing ourselves to be challenged by the Gospel, we will have the courage to make an authentic response, for the depths of a soul open to and entirely at the disposal of the Spirit. That Spirit, crying 'Abba' within each of us, gives a perfect expression to our oneness, and will create within each of us a response that is profoundly one, though it takes many different forms." R.Mother Josefa Bulto, June 29, 1969

I loved Reverend Mother Bulto and got to know her well the year I spent in Rome before my final Profession. Later, as Mother General, she came to Chile and I remember her delight in seeing the chart I had made of my first ten years in Chile.
I shared with her the graces of those years and her enthusiasm made me continue to keep a record for the next ten years so that all twenty years were recorded on it.
I also remember her telling the community that she had often thought that she acted out of good will even when her actions might have bothered others; she said that helped her to be charitable and loving when others did something that might bother her as she was sure they also were acting out of good will. It has helped me to believe that others had good intentions even when I did not like their words or actions. Anyway, I may not have expressed this clearly but it is something I am very grateful for and for her maternal interest in all that I did in Chile.

The other quote is from Concha Comacho who was the next Mother General of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She said: "At this time of Pentecost when we live and pray with Mary, let us turn to the Holy Spirit--the divine and human love we wish to show forth; let us ask that the strength of the free gift of 'union and conformity with the Heart of Jesus' may be renewed in us.'"

Concha was a charismatic leader and I shall never forget the welcome she gave me when I visited her in Spain in 1999. I had been teaching Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross in Spain that summer and went up to see her and found such love and kindness. My companion, a lay collaborator, felt the same. It makes me think of how easy it is to give God to others, if we are filled with his love!

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