June 4 - "Pentecost"

I thank you, my dear parishioners, for your heartfelt condolences to my family and me on the death of my mother, Catherine Dillon Bullen.  Yesterday there was a lovely Funeral Mass here.  Many friends and relatives who live in the area attended the funeral Mass.  Next weekend there will be another Mass followed by her interment beside my father in Calvary Cemetery in Butler, PA.  We are grateful for the prayers of so many for the happy repose of her soul and for us who remain in our bereavement.  May she rest in peace!

Today we celebrate Pentecost, which is traditionally celebrated as the “birthday of the church.”  On this great feast of Pentecost we might spend some time thinking about the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.  I am going to talk about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Isaiah 11:2-3 in a description of the savior:  wisdom, understanding, counsel (right judgment), fortitude (courage), knowledge, piety (reverence), fear of the Lord (wonder and awe).  In his excellent little pamphlet “Welcome the Spirit Gifts,” Peter Herbeck talks about four broad categories of various spiritual gifts (charisms) in the New Testament as manifestations of the Spirit given to individuals or groups to build up the Church and empower individuals or groups for mission.  The four broad categories are:  1) Speaking Gifts, 2) Sign or Power Gifts, 3) Service Gifts, and 4) Leadership Gifts.  I will discuss these in greater detail in a future column. 

For now, though, I want to talk about the fruits of the Spirit.  In her book The Confirmed Catholic’s Companion:  A Guide to Abundant Living (Chicago, Illinois:  Acta Publications, 2005), Sr. Kathleen Glavich, SND, reminds us that the Church teaches that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are “perfections” that the Holy Spirit forms in us as first fruits of eternal glory.  Each fruit is a form of love.  Sr. Glavich provides a very helpful way to remember the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
 
Charity = love
Faithfulness= love proving constant
Joy=love smiling
Modesty=love triumphing over selfish inclinations
Kindness=love showing itself sensitive to others’
feelings
Goodness=love making allowances and sacrifices for others
Peace=love resting
Patience=love waiting
Continence=love exercising self-control
Chastity=love respecting the gift of sex
Long suffering=love enduring
Mildness=love yielding
 
On this day of Pentecost let us pray:  Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the first of your love.  Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.  And you will renew the face of the earth.  R/. Amen
 
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon