An Awesome Connection

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We connect with the Spirit in the first words we speak at Mass. And appropriately, it is while establishing our relationship with all Three Persons of the Trinity. We affirm that we are in God’s house, not presumptuously or as intruders, but because we are invited, commissioned, and empowered to speak and act in the name of God himself—in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

In celebrating Mass, we speak as Jesus, whose body we are. When we were baptized, Jesus rose from the dead in our bodies.  He rose in us to continue his life and mission on earth, to speak and act in us as in his own body, which we are. The mystery of our Baptism is that we are not just Christians; we have “become Christ” (Saint Augustine, quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 795). It is as Christ, sons and daughters “in the Son,” that we come before the Father “in the Spirit.”

We have the right to be here; to say and to do all we are about to say and do.

Action: Make the Sign of the Cross. Slowly. Listen to what you are saying. Ask for the seventh “Gift of the Holy Spirit”: Awe and wonder.

Prayer: Lord, I am your body. You live and act in me. Let me think with your thoughts and speak with your words and act as your body on earth.

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings on the USCCB website here

Easter season is the time to focus on the Holy Spirit. Starting on Easter Monday, we will look carefully at how the Spirit is proclaimed, invoked, and presented to us in the Mass. Lex orandi, lex credendi: “As the Church prays, so she believes.”

After that, we will reflect on the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Galatians 5:22), and at how the Spirit enters the life of those who believe.

As you read these reflections, ask for the gift of Understanding. Ask to really understand what you believe, what you see and hear at Mass. Go deeper into understanding the Mass than you ever have before. We experience the Faith when we become aware of its mystery. We hope you reflect deeply on the Mass and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and find yourself more and more drawn into the mysteries of our Lord in the Mass and in His Gifts.