Whitsunday, Sunday, June 8th, 2014

Whitsunday, Sunday, June 8th, 2014

In today's Gospel from St. John, we hear the following:  " . . . . If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (St. John 14:15 ff)  Today we celebrate the feast of Whitsunday, or Pentecost.  Although I am sure that it would not  be liturgically correct, but outside of that it would certainly be appropriate to sing "Happy Birthday" at today's Mass because this is considered to be the "birthday of the Church" when the Holy Ghost descended upon those assembled in that upper room:  "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:1 ff)   Without a doubt, as we hear described here in the Second Chapter of the Acts of the Apostle, the whole house was filled, and the sound was like a great rushing, mighty wind.  But, again, it states that the "house was filled."  " . . . .  and it filled the house . . . ."  But they were filled also with the Holy Ghost because we hear in Verse 4:  "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost . .  ." (Acts 2:4)  

God has the ability to fill us up as well . . . but we have to allow Him.  God has the power to fill us with His Presence . . .  but we first have to be open.  God can come into our lives and empower us . . . but we have to be willing.   You see, God can do all things.  Obviously, we know this is true because He created the universe and everything in it.  But God will not come into our hearts without being invited first.  Just like the Apostles and the Blessed Mother, we need to be open to God coming into our hearts and our souls and our lives . . . . "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" . . .   We, too, just like them can be filled with the Holy Ghost but two things have to happen first:  1) We need to invite God into our hearts and be open to Him;  2) We need to empty our hearts to make room for the Holy Ghost to come in.  You see, if we need to move something into the closet, such as jackets or sweaters or clothes, for example, we first have to make room in the closet for the new items we are moving there.  In other words, if the closet is already packed full of other things, you can not very well move anything else in there.  Make room in the closet so that you will have room for the new items.  In a similar way, how can the Holy Ghost find a place in our heart if our heart is already packed full with love of things of this life; love of things of this world; love of self; etc.  Clear your heart first of these things and then there will be ample room for the Holy Ghost to have a place in your heart.

Join us for Mass on Whitsunday as we celebrate the birthday of the Church.  Come gather with us at Mass and ask the Holy Ghost to fill your heart:  to give you knowledge; to enlighten you; to empower you; to lead you closer to your Heavenly Father.   Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel of Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we sing, worship and honour God; as we hear the Word of God spoken to each one of us; and also receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ at communion time.  

If you want to find out more about our parish, please visit our website at:

http://indyanglican.blogspot.com/