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“Then He breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy
Spirit…’”

The solemnity of Pentecost reminds us of the birth of the Church.
In today’s lectionary readings, the vivid account of what transpired
on that day is given in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. The
passage tells us that in the place where Mary, the apostles, and
other disciples were gathered, “suddenly from up the sky there
came a noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all
through the house where they were seated…tongues as of fire
appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them…all were
filled with the Holy Spirit.”  After this manifestation of the
presence of the Holy Spirit, the apostles then preached to the
people in different tongues and native languages about the
marvels God has accomplished.

In the gospel account, we are then given a passage of one of
the resurrection appearances of Jesus to His apostles.  In this
account for the feast of Pentecost, we read that “though the
disciples had locked the doors of the place where they were
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood before them…[and
said] Peace be with you”. At the sight of Jesus, the disciples
rejoiced.  And then Jesus “breathed on them and said: ‘Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven
them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.’”

Devotion to the Holy Spirit was not popular during much of
the history of the Catholic Church.  However, the devotion to
Him became more prominent as a charismatic renewal movement
swept the Catholic Church in the middle of the twentieth
century.  The second ecumenical Vatican Council, under the
leadership of Pope John XXIII had the Holy Spirit much in
mind in the renewal of the Church according to the “signs of
the times” - the present situation of the world.  But even
before this Council was convened, many Catholics around the
world were already participating in the charismatic renewal
movement - a movement inspired very much by the Holy Spirit.
Through this movement, those who formerly were lukewarm in
their practice of the faith, suddenly became ardent in their
Christian life and much inspired to prayer and community
worship because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their
life and among their friends, family and loved ones. Many
were converted also because of this charismatic movements.

The feast of Pentecost can help us to reflect on the many
gifts the Holy Spirit gives us.  We receive these gifts
through the sacrament of baptism and confirmation and also
through our regular attendance of the Mass and practice of
the sacrament of reconciliation.  The gifts of wisdom,
knowledge, counsel, understanding, piety, courage or
fortitude, and fear of the Lord are given to us as
individuals so that we may do the Lord’s will and serve
our brothers and sisters in Christ. Through the Holy
Spirit, we are able to pray well and practice the virtues
of strength, justice, prudence and temperance.  Not only
this, by our docility to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and
our attentiveness to the Word of God and reception of
His Sacrament, we shall bear spiritual fruits: joy, peace,
faith, charity, goodness, kindness, patience, generosity,
chastity, modesty, gentleness, and self-control.  And as
a community, some of us may be gifted with the Holy Spirit
to teach, to preach, to heal, to give words of wisdom,
to counsel and to be instruments of God’s miracles to
others.

We receive so much from God through the Holy Spirit that
we are called to be really thankful and grateful for all
God’s goodness, mercy and kindness.  Pentecost is a time
for us to thank God for the gift of prayer, for the gift
of community through our loved ones and through our
co-workers, and most especially for the gift of the Church
- from whom we are nourished daily or every Sunday with
the Body and Blood of Christ - a sacrament that strengthens
us to do God’s will, obey the Church, and serve our brothers
and sisters in Christ.  Let us praise and thank God always
for the gift of Himself through His Most Holy Spirit.

Site Reports and Updates 01-10-2006

Last September was a very challenging month for our
web site.  We experienced computer problems in the
first week. And then last September 28, Manila was
hit directly with a strong typhoon - taking away
electricity in our area for three days.  Due to this
challenging situations, we were not able to give the
Enkindle Blog Posts twice.  We hope that in the future,
despite computer problems and no electricity, we can
find ways to deliver our Weekly Sunday Enrichment as
faithfully as we should. If you are still interested to learn about the gospel reflection on the 23rd Sunday Year B plus the reflection for this 26th Sunday Year B, just go to this the link, 23rd Sunday Year B

This last quarter of the year, we hope to give you
new services via our affiliate programs.  Amazon.com
recently informed their affiliates that the aStore
they provide for them would soon be able to accommodate
the advertisement of 25 product items compared to
the 9 items that their affiliates presently have.
If you have not heard of their aStore service before,
you may wish to browse it through the page they
help us construct: the Catholic Books aStore.

Also something new for us publishers of AdSense
is the new video ads that we can publish at our
web site.  We hope that we can engage our visitors,
readers, subscribers, and searchers with video
ads that will help them find related information
to the content that we publish through our Special
Catholic Articles series.

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