Pentecost Blessing

I am sharing the following message from my dear friend Fr Simon Khurshid of Sacred Hesrt Church Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan:

Dear Frank,

Greetings in Christ. I hope this email finds you well. 

Wish you all a very happy and blessed feast of Pentecost. I wish that you’re showered with the choicest blessings of Jesus Christ and blessed with a wonderful feast time. Please be sure of my prayers for you all and America. 

Today, as we are celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day when the spirit came upon the timid disciples in the form of tongues of fire and transformed them into true messengers of Jesus.

Once they received the Spirit, they went out boldly and preached to all in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

On this day Jesus wants us to know the freedom of living in his Spirit. This feast is the culmination of the Paschal mystery where Jesus fulfils his promise of sending the Spirit of the Father and the Son on his disciples.

This feast also indicates that the Holy Spirit is an on-going reality, who will be with the church forever and who will touch our lives every single day.

We celebrate this day to recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit, realizing that God’s very life, breath and energy lives in all believers.

The celebration tells us that the same Spirit is given to each one of us, that we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body and that the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead will raise us too.

The church tells us of the seven gifts of the Spirit.

The Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are the following:

Wisdom

– desire for the things of God, and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honour and glory.

Here we see God at work in our lives and in the world.

Second,-

Understanding – enables us to know more clearly the mysteries of faith.

It perfects a person’s speculative reason in the apprehension of truth.

Third-,

Counsel – warns us of the deceits of the evil one, and of the dangers to salvation.

With the gift of right judgment, we know the difference between right and wrong, and we choose to do what is right.

Fourth-,

Fortitude (courage) – With the gift of courage, we overcome our fear and are willing to take risks as a follower of Jesus Christ.

It strengthens us to do the will of God in all things.

Fifth-,

Knowledge – With the gift of knowledge, the Spirit enables us to discover the will of God in all things.

Sixth-,

Piety (Reverence) – With the gift of reverence, sometimes called piety, we have a deep sense of respect for God and the church.

And finally the seventh-,

Fear of the Lord (awe of God) – With the gift of wonder, prayerful respect and awe we are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with such awe and wonder has perfect knowledge, perfect goodness, perfect power, and perfect love.

Today’s feast rounds off the tremendous mysteries that we have been commemorating since Holy Week – the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus culminates in the sending of the Spirit of the Father and the Son on his disciples.

This feast has been the extraordinary intervention of God into our lives by what we can only call the “mystery” of Christ.

Today’s feast indicates that it is an on-going reality, which still touches our lives every single day.

This week, let us reflect upon the purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Church. He can guide and teach us according to the purpose that He has been sent by the Lord God.

Through the power of the Spirit we ask for the grace to be forgiven and the grace to forgive.

As Jesus empowers his disciples with the new life of his Spirit, we look for the gift of Peace from the same Spirit.

May God bless you all

In communion of prayers

Fr. Simon Khurshid

Dear Simon,

Salutations and great blessings be multiplied to you and the body of believers your ministry touches every day.

Happy Feast and thank you for your powerful prayers for America and for the world against the extreme forces of darkness intent on the destruction of civilization as we have known it.

I am very blessed to receive the words you have written about the world changing event of Pentecost the birthday of the Church.

These words are both beautiful and powerful in their description of this special day when the Heavenly father fulfilled His Promise to all those who will come home to Him through His precious Son Jesus the Christ.

I will gladly share your message with those whom I am in touch with via email and social media.

Simon your words of love have brightened my day.

Standing together with you for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.

In Christ

Brother Frank