Receive the Holy Spirit

 Pentecost Sunday, Year C - 5th June 2022

Gospel John 20: 19–23

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again,

‘Peace be with you.

As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I go to my place of prayer, to my room, and I ready myself for prayer. I take my time as I gradually become more still. I don’t rush.

I ask for the help of the Holy Spirit spoken of in today’s readings.

I might like to try to pray this Gospel imaginatively, having a sense of closed doors, of a dark, suffocating room, a taste of fear.

I take time to experience something of this in my prayer.

But then, a transformation. Jesus standing before me, showing me his wounds, smiling and saying to me, ‘Peace be with you’.

How am I feeling now?

Do I want to say something, do something, by way of response?

I savour this encounter.

Then he breathes on me – can I feel his breath?

What is this gift of the Holy Spirit he is offering freely? What do I want to say, do now?

I spend the remainder of my time in prayer, savouring the Lord, present to me and I to him.

I speak to him from the heart and end, when ready, with a slow sign of the cross.

Click here to read or listen to a One-Minute Homily on today's readings from The Jesuit Post