Eventide Reflection – Feb. 5, 2019

Eventide Reflection – Feb. 5, 2019

February, the month of Valentine’s, brought us to our first Eventide supper in the Parish House. It was so cozy, with a warm fire burning, the attached words on love by Barbra Mousouris, a delicious green salad by David & Alyce Boyd, vegetarian ginger soup for supper, and yummy dessert treats from Robert Brown.  We hope you will join us for this wonderful time of peace, reflection, music and companionship Wednesday evenings in the Parish House!  Dinners will be monthly for now.

Good eventide.

The new testament reading for this fourth week after Epiphany is 1 Corinthians 13, which I am guessing is very familiar to most of you. I often quote it in weddings:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

We spiritual beings who attend church are truly surrounded by the teaching of Love…as well as the people who are actually walking the talk of love. For many, the All Saints community is family. And family hopefully loves one another unconditionally. We share a deep heart common bond as faithful Christians, and much of this dedication is the understanding and agreement that Love is paramount to our walking the talk of Christ. And so this word that we use so much, but still never seems trite or overused… Love.

So what IS love? It is not just an emotional feeling. Rather, it is a deep commitment to the happiness of others. In the case of a couple, your partner. Marriage is a most generous act of giving up your freedom for your partner’s needs and happiness. Marriage is a lifelong commitment to give love, care and support your partner. Marriage is a strong bond of love and compassion, not to be broken by any challenges that may occur during the entire lifetime. Your partner is the best and most immediate person to whom you give unconditional love, listen from your heart to his or her needs, concerns and feelings, and with whom you communicate deeply, honestly and clearly.

To love is not to possess, to own or imprison, not to lose one’s self in another. Love is to join and separate, to walk alone and together, to find a laughing freedom that lonely isolation does not permit. It is finally to be able to be who we really are, no longer clinging in dependency, nor living separate lives in silence, but to be perfectly one’s true self, and perfectly joined in permanent commitment to another—and to one’s inner self. Love only endures when it moves like waves, receding and returning gently or passionately. Moving lovingly like the tide in the moon’s own predictable harmony…in your heart, Where true and lasting love can abide.”

That is romantic love. What other kinds of love are there? The Bible tells us GOD IS LOVE, and Jesus Christ taught us to love one another.

Four unique forms of love are found in the Bible. They are communicated through four Greek words: Eros, or sensual romantic love, in the Bible predicated on marriage; Storge (“storjay”), or family love, the affectionate bond that develops naturally between parents and children, and brothers and sisters. Many examples of family love are found in Scripture, such as the mutual protection among Noah and his wife, the love of Jacob for his sons, and the strong love the sisters Martha and Mary had for their brother Lazarus. An interesting compound word using storge, “philostorgos,” is found in Romans 12:10, which commands believers to “be devoted” to one another with brotherly affection.

Philia (Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh) is the type of love in the Bible that most Christians practice toward each other. This Greek term describes the powerful emotional bond seen in deep friendships. Philia is the most general type of love in Scripture, encompassing love for fellow humans, care, respect, and compassion for people in need. The concept of brotherly love that unites believers is unique to Christianity. Jesus said philia would be an identifier of his followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:35, NIV)

Agape (Pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay) is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible. This term defines God’s immeasurable, incomparable love for humankind. It is the divine love that comes from God. Agape love is perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, and pure. Jesus Christ demonstrated this kind of divine love to his Father and to all humanity in the way he lived and died. Following his resurrection, Jesus asked the apostle Peter if he loved him (agape). Peter replied three times that he did, but the word he used was phileo or brotherly love. Peter had not yet received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; he was incapable of agape love. But after Pentecost, Peter was so full of God’s love that he spoke from his heart and 3,000 people were converted.

All of us want to love like Jesus. We want to be generous, forgiving, and compassionate enough to love people unconditionally. But no matter how hard we try, somehow we fall short. Our humanness gets in the way. We can love, but we can’t do it perfectly. Learn the secret to loving like Jesus by abiding in him.

And in closing I would love to share one of my favorite poems on love by Roy Croft:

Love by Roy Croft
I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what You are making of me.
I love you For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.

…And so I wonder, when is a time you have truly felt embraced by Love? Thank you for sharing your heart!

Eventide Reflection – April 26

By Robert Brown
Shared at Eventide, April 26th, 2017

Read John 17: 20-26

In this passage from the Gospel of John is a continuation of Jesus’ petition to his God, our God, on behalf of his disciples. This intercession follows the lengthy discourse he presents to his disciples at the last supper in the upper room.

If we go back a few chapters in John’s gospel, and read through to today’s passage, we find a number of quotes wherein Jesus explicates what’s going on in the present moment, what is to come in the next few days, what things will be like after his death and resurrection, and what all this means for them, and for the world.

It’s really quite a bit of concentrated and rich personal, social, spiritual and theological information. It’s interesting for me to wonder how the disciples may have heard these foundational points, as I continue to evolve and grow in my own understanding of them.

Starting at the beginning of chapter 13, here are a few highlights leading up to today’s passage:

Peter’s objection to Jesus washing his feet, and the resulting commandment: “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

Jesus refutes Peter’s claim: “I will lay down my life for you.” Peter’s 3 denials follow.

Jesus responds to Thomas’ claim to not know where Jesus is going. “I am the way,and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus assures the disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever.”

And: “ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

From Chapter 15: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

And from just a few verses before today’s passage: Speaking to God of his disciples: “They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

The gospel according to John is seen by Biblical scholars as fundamentally different than the other three synoptic gospels. This gospel contains a full compliment of theological assertions, principles and explanations, which theologians and scholars have been working with since Jesus’ time. It’s likely that scholars, theologians and all of humanity will continue to attempt to fully understand, in a systematic and coherent way, not just the gospel of John, but all of Holy Scripture.

All Christians, believers who walk the faith journey, have their relationship with both Scripture and with God, and this journey is one of evolving understandings of meanings and beliefs. In this sense you and I are all theologians, because of our interest in understanding God, the nature of human nature, and the relationship between God, humanity, and all of Creation.

So the gospel passage will be read again. This time see what stands out for you, what you see as having special meaning for you. All reflections are welcome shared or silent.

Read John 17: 20-26

Two Oranges

By Barbra Mousouris

Originally delivered at Eventide, April 5, 2017

(take 2 oranges) Here we are in the 5^th week of Lent already! A period in which we are invited into a time of self examination and reconnection with spirit.  Some of us interpret this to mean fasting and self denial…which is sometimes easier than self examination. Of course, in our normal lives we examine and choose our behaviors all the time.  We act appropriately with colleagues, we are courteous to people in line, we stop at red lights, we edit our writings before we hit “send”!  We reevaluate our careers, our relationships, our eating habits, our plans, our weight, our habits.  Self examination in Lent is a SPIRITUAL course correction.  The church gives us this chance for a do-over… To examine our spiritual life is not to see where we feel we are not measuring up, as it is the human condition to be imperfect…  It is an opportunity to look at ourselves, not everybody else, knowing that God also looks at us honestly, forgiving and loving us no matter what, and reminding us during Lent of the goal of heading toward spiritual growth and peace.  This is a personal, individual journey, whether you give something up, or add meditation or spiritual readings or charitable service, or whatever you choose that brings you closer to spirit.

When it comes to choices, everyone makes choices, even animals! My golden retriever would eat an entire bowl of kibble, laced with special verboten human food gravy to hide her seizure medication…of course after much glopping and slopping, a tiny white pill would remain in her otherwise spotless bowl.  She too was making a choice, much to my chagrin.  We all take what gives us joy, and let the rest go.  Like a citrus juicer that separates the sweet juice from the pulp, our “blessing extractor” can take any experience and draw goodness out of it.  Or not.  In gratitude we can take the best, and leave the rest… Be open to the golden nugget God is trying to give you in each experience.  We are all given 24 hours in a day, every day.  It is our choice how to spend it. Lent is a time to let the light shine through the darkness, the spring after the winter.

One  gospel reading for Lent is about the feeding of the multitudes. It is a familiar biblical story that appears in each of the 4 gospels, each time miraculously written.  On a desert night, Jesus blessed the meager food resource of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and miraculously fed 4000 hungry souls ! Pretty weird if you ask me. Within this story lies the essence of what Christian living is about, providing bread for the world.  Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that bread is more than, white or wheat, but as a universal symbol for that which is necessary to sustain us. In John chapter six, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Those who come to me shall not hunger or thirst.”  In the Eucharist on Sundays, we experience this miracle, through the invocation of the spirit and the word of God, our bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.  With this, he not only feeds us, but empowers us to feed the whole world. In a world filled with needy and hungry people, Jesus taught us to share food, water, money, shelter, clothing, medicine and education.  But even the wealthy in their marble palace can be experiencing a hunger of the soul. It is so easy to make excuses for not sharing…not enough time, not enough money, not enough faith…imagine if the Albanian nun Teresa had walked into the slums of Calcutta to minister to those dying in the streets and said, “No Lord, this is beyond me.”

Has this Lent season been a time in which you have grown in love? As Fr. Richard Rohr says, there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.  And we need to know, God does not love us because we are good.  God loves us because He is good.  He instructs us to become a more loving person in mind, heart, body, and soul.  Are you more loving today than you were on Ash Wednesday?  And what does love let us see in one another, in the world, and in ourselves?  If everyone just share the little they have, that little will add up to a love of love going around. Jesus is our bread for the hungry, our bread for the soul.  We needn’t worry that there will be enough to go around, because as the story tells us, the left overs from those who love and trust, will fill many, many souls.

On the Jewish holiday of Purim, it is the custom for neighbors to visit each other’s homes with gifts of fruit. One Purim, three men on a business trip found themselves miles from civilization, with but one orange between them.  One man took the orange in his hands, held it close to his heart, turned to the other man and said,  “My dear Chaim, with this orange I give you all my love, and I pray that God grants you a life of peace and plenty.”  Chaim appreciatively accepted the orange and faced the 3^rd man, saying, “My brother Yosef, this is a symbol of my deepest thanks for your friendship in my life.  I wish you all the happiness your heart desires.”  Yosef, nearly in tears, received the fruit and turned to the first man. “Beloved Jacob, you are a true man of God. May the angels of mercy walk by your side and return to you a thousandfold all the good you give.”  Jacob received the orange and, brimming with ecstasy, gave it to Yosef again with an additional blessing.  So the 3 men went on all night, adding more and more love to the orange until their souls were filled beyond measure.

The only gifts we truly have to offer one another are the gifts of spirit.  Physical objects are but cups we will with love.  A gift, no matter how expensive, is not a gift unless it is given with sincerity and kindness.  Even if your physical gift seems meager, if we imbue it with intention, it will bless the received in the deepest way.  When we give from the heart, we, too, are full.

As Rabbi Siegel said, “From you I receive, to you I give.  Together we share, from this we live.”

So I wonder…can I feed all of us with this 1 orange? Even if we were starving? In the interest of time I will actually share two…So I ask you, to please pass it to your friend sitting next to you, giving them a blessing…a few words…perhaps one word…perhaps a silent prayer…as you see we can fill our spirits and still have 2 oranges left over.

Amen.

Response to Our Stewardship Campaign

By Fr. Paul Collins and Kathie Deviny

Fr. Paul and Kathie have listened closely to the recent Sunday talks about how the financial condition of the All Saint’s Budget affects our important outreach, family/children and capital campaign ministries.

Kathie especially likes concrete information, so appreciated the information that a 5% increase in pledging by all members would cover our operating shortfall. It may seem sacrilegious, but she sees our annual budget much like the condo dues she and Paul pay, which keep their home safe, sound and solvent.  Our church “dues” cover all those things, as well as providing us with the spiritual sustenance we need, and indeed, depend on.

To cover our annual pledge, we tap into our own “operating expenses.”  Believe it or not, it can be fun to juggle various spending categories and realize that a  small percentage reduction in food, meals out, travel, etc. can make it happen.

Denny Bacon’s talk on the Capital Campaign stressed how early payments on our capitol pledge would boost the bottom line.  That caused us to rethink our schedule of payments. Why can’t we speed ours up?

And then Heather Hawley broke our hearts as she spoke about our new Godly Play Program and what a blessing it’s been to her and the children.  And then a member of the outreach committee held up one of the darling duffle bags for the Cleveland kids to take to camp (instead of a plastic sack).

At coffee hour we talked to a university student who was among the ones devoting all those summer hours to establishing  Godly Play.  And he was working with the youth group, who have a different program!  We all know how else he could have been spending that time!

We realized that to start growing and thriving right now, all of us need to be thinking beyond five, to a six-plus percent increase in our annual pledge.

For that young man and for many of us, stretching our financial contribution is probably not possible right now.  But he has more than met this goal through his time and dedication.  As have so many more of us who have contributed the time and talent part of the equation by serving on vestry, committees, volunteering in the church office, as tutors, in other outreach ministries.  And so can we all.

It sounds corny, but now we two parishioners have not only faith, but hope in the Love that our parish is contributing to our neighbors, our community and our planet.  Thanks be to God!

Fr. Paul Collins and Kathie Deviny

Resources for Listening to Christ

The Rev. Aimee Eyer-Delevett

Recently, our lectionary assigned gospel readings have invited us to focus our energies on

praying to God. Amid the noisy and often troubling news of our world, we who follow Christ are

invited to quiet ourselves and spend time in prayer and the presence of the Divine.

There are times when we need to stop: sit and meditate; read scripture; pray; take a silent,

contemplative walk. These provide an opportunity to switch our minds and our lives away from day-

to-day work. God has difficulty entering a mind that is caught up in the business of the day. Taking

a break opens us up to the presence of God and a chance for learning and growth.

In her book That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist, Jewish/Buddhist author Sylvia

Boorstein talks about how, when life gets overwhelming and she takes on too many things, she

needs to increase her time in prayer and meditation. That can seem incongruous to many – often

when life seems to overtake us, prayer is one of the first things to go. But Boorstein emphasizes the

importance of prayer to strengthen not only the mind, but also the whole being. Without that, she

queries, what use are we to God or to humanity?

We are all called to listen to Jesus. We can even find that, as we listen, we are freed up to do

more and reengage the world renewed.

So take some time to read and meditate on scripture; open a Book of Common Prayer to

page 80 and pray morning or evening prayer, or compline (or use your phone to go to

www.dailyoffice.org); find an app that will send you a daily scripture meditation, such as Jesus

Calling or d365.org to find devotions for every day of the year. Find some time to devote yourself

to stillness and listening in the presence of God.

No one can do the listening for you. No one else can listen with your ears and heart and

absorb the words of God. You are the one who needs to hear what Christ has to say to you.

An Invitation to a Holy Advent

Advent is a season of expectant waiting for the in breaking of God among us in the birth of Jesus and anticipation of Christ’s coming again at the end of time. During Advent we prepare ourselves for God to come into our world, our lives, our hearts anew. In Advent we’re invited to wonder, “What can we do as the Church, Christ’s body here on earth, to welcome God’s reign of justice and peace today? What can we do as individuals to reorder our lives in the light of God’s love? What would it mean to live as people who believe in Jesus as the Savior of all the earth and who expect him to come again at the fulfillment of time? Each Advent we turn to these questions.”1

Living into these questions requires quiet reflection and an inward turning. I hope you will find such opportunities at All Saints. Sundays in Advent will offer an atmosphere of reflective preparation for Christ to be born in our world and in our lives. Our readings this season invite us to examine ourselves and make a clear path for Christ’s birth within and around us. Our music turns toward the contemplative with the use of plainsong. Our senses are drawn toward the transcendent by the faint scent of frankincense and the simple chime of bells. Our altar is dressed in blue, the color of Mary, inviting us to follow Mary’s example to be bearers of God in our world.

That we might be inspired by the faithful acts of Mary, and others, in God’s plan of salvation, Wednesday evenings from 7:15-8:45, adults are invited to gather for our 3 week series Advent of the Savior. We will consider the roles Isaiah, Mary, and Joseph played in making God’s promise a reality. This series will introduce you to the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth, remind you of God’s faithfulness and power to fulfill divine promises, and draw you more deeply into the love that brought Christ to earth.

That love, of course, is God’s self-giving love poured out for us in the birth of Jesus. God’s self-giving love is the primary impulse of the incarnation, and one that we are invited to follow. We will do so this Advent by following the witness of St. Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus’ words to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor,” Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. On St. Nicholas Day, Sunday, December 6, we will offer our gifts to assist the needy in our midst. Giving Tree gifts given to people in need will be brought to church that Sunday and gathered at the altar as our own act of self-giving love to others. Come on this special day to learn more about the witness of St. Nicholas and be inspired to your own acts of self-giving love. I pray that Advent at All Saints will provide for you the time and space to prepare for Christ’s birth, God’s greatest gift to us. All so that when God is born in Christ this Christmas, he will find in us a mansion prepared for him to dwell.

In the peace of Christ,

Aimée

1 “Advent,” Daily Prayer for all Seasons, (New York: Church Publishing, 2014), p 1.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people: Eventide Reflections

By Michael Swift, All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church Parishioner

Below is an Eventide Reflection delivered by Michael Swift on Wednesday, May 27

Good evening everyone.  It is wonderful to be with you all in this place.

Today we stand right between Pentecost, which was last Sunday, and Trinity Sunday, which is next Sunday.  So I am departing from the assigned readings for today to talk about the person of the Trinity who is active in Pentecost: the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-21

Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.

Isn’t that a wonderful way to end a reading?  “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people”.   It perfectly encapsulates what the Bible means to an Episcopalian: traditional words come alive, the collected stories of our faith through which the Spirit speaks to us where we are, inspires us as we are, and directs our path in the way we should go.

For me, this is the doctrine of “inspiration of scripture”.  It is not a statement of Biblical inerrancy, or a proclamation of the Bible as literally true and the only reliable source of truth.  It’s simply an expression of this principle: “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people”.  If you’ll indulge me, let’s dive into some linguistics, and explore the beautiful imagery around this notion.  The phrase “inspiration of scripture” comes directly from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, in which he says, [3:16] “All scripture is inspired by God.”  Let’s look at the Greek.  The word translated as “inspired by God” is “theopneustos”. “Theo” is God, and “pneustos” is the adjective form of “pneuma”, which is the word for Spirit, wind, or breath.  This is our connection to the Holy Spirit, “to pneuma to hagion”, the Holy Breath.  Paul is telling us that all scripture is God-breathed.  And God has not stopped breathing. God breathes through God’s people, as it has been since the beginning.  Our forebears captured what they could on paper, cherished it, translated it, and present it to us, a living history of our faith, and God breathes through it still.

OK, the Spirit is living and active through the Bible.  So let’s hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people in the gospel passage I just read.  Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”  Advocate.  I can’t resist, let’s go back to the Greek.  The Greek word here is parakletos.  “Para” means beside or next-to.  “Kletos” means “to call”.  So the word “advocate” is actually a perfect translation, “ad” is Latin for beside, and “vocare” means “to call”.  This is such a beautiful word, with so many layers.

The Spirit is our advocate to God.  As the author of Romans says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”  The Spirit, the parakletos, the beside-caller, stands beside us and calls out to God on our behalf.

The Spirit is also God’s advocate to us.  The call of God is not always big and majestic and imperious.  The Holy Spirit, the parakletos, the beside-caller, stands next to us, calling us gently, helping us along the way.  The call of God is personal, immediate, and immanent.

So the Spirit stands beside us, calling to God, calling us.  But there’s more to this word. We’ve talked about the parakletos as the one doing the calling. But it could just as well be the other way around.  Parakletos can also mean a person you call to stand beside you.  The person you turn to for help when you need it most.  The person you can count on.  The comforter, the encourager.  The Holy Spirit is all those things and more.

So, we’ve talked about the Spirit as the breath of God, breathing life into the scriptures.  We’ve talked about the Spirit as Paraclete: advocate, comforter.  I could go on and on.  There are so many beautiful ideas about the Spirit.  But I fear that with all this linguistic and theological analysis, we risk the Spirit becoming too abstract.  In this age of spiritual awakening and religious skepticism, the Holy Spirit more powerful and relevant than ever.  But often we don’t really know how to talk about it without some pretty abstract theology.  That’s where you guys come in.  Eventide is a perfect setting for us to make the doctrines of the Holy Spirit personal, alive, and relevant.

I’d like to break you up into groups.  I’d like you to discuss ways in which you’ve seen or felt the activity of the Holy Spirit, and then choose one of your group as a spokesperson to share your reflections.   To guide your conversation, I will give you each some Biblical imagery.  Group 1, I’d like you to discuss the Spirit as wind, like the strong wind that blew in the room where the disciples gathered on Pentecost.  Group 2, I’d like you to discuss the Spirit as fire, like the tongues of flame that rested on the disciples’ heads.  Group 3, I’d like you to discuss the Spirit as a dove, like the one that settled on Jesus when he was baptized.  So again, Dove, Wind, and Fire.  I’ll give you guys a few minutes to talk in your groups, then I’ll ask you to choose someone to share a few key points from your discussion.

To close, I’d like to share a passage from the Novena of the Holy Spirit by St. Benedicta of the Cross

Who are you, sweet light, that fills me

And illumines the darkness of my heart?

You lead me like a mother’s hand,

And should you let go of me,

I would not know how to take another step.

You are the space

That embraces my being and buries it in yourself.

Away from you it sinks into the abyss

Of nothingness, from which you raised it to the light.

You, nearer to me than I to myself

And more interior than my most interior

And still impalpable and intangible

And beyond any name:

Holy Spirit eternal love!