6th Sunday of Easter

 Jesus promises his disciples: "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." (Jn 14: 26) Here we have a real sense of how the Incarnation is prolonged in the life of the Church. In this way the People of God continue to receive the Holy Spirit and is kept obedient to the mission given her by the Messiah. This is not a static one-off event, witnessed one and for all, at Pentecost. Each time we come to Mass the priest asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit so that the Eucharistic sacrifice may be enacted which makes Christ substantially and truly present to us in the consecrated species. This is especially the case in those prayers composed after Vatican II, for example: "Make holy, therefore, these gifts we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall" (EP II) and "Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration..." (Ep III) Our gathering at Mass therefore becomes a living memorial which mediates the power of God to influence our lives and bind us in unity as Church. I encourage parishioners to be attentive to the wording of the prayers and to hear how the Holy Spirit brings us to experience the power of God even as we journey in "hac lacrimarum valle" (this valley of tears) (Salve Regina)