Pentecost/Shevout

 This is a special week for me. It's the week of my two birthdays. Birthday #1 was June 3rd, the day I was born of my mother back in 1944. June 6th, 1979, a few days before Pentecost Sunday, is the day I was Born Again and filled with the Spirit. This took place at the Thursday night meeting of the Upper Room Prayer Group of St. Catherine's RC Church, Ringwood, NJ. The late Fr. Matthew Gaskin led a prayer for a group of us at the conclusion of a Life in the Spirit seminar. My life immediately and wonderfully changed forever...

Happy Pentecost/Shevout

Image credit: commongoodonline.org

ACTS, CHAPTER 2

Sometimes—

when I read my Bible

I imagine myself

there, in the rumpled, dog-eared pages

where and when remarkable things

were happening

 

For instance—

Oh, I wish I could’ve been

in the room that morning in Jerusalem

on the Day of Pentecost

when an astonishing sound

of rushing wind came from Heaven

and filled the place with the Holy Spirit

 

wish I could’ve been among

the crowd of bewildered people

clutching garments and belongings

securing food baskets and money bags

amid the sound of whirring wind

wondering what was going on

 

I would’ve seen with startled eyes

blazing tongues of fire appear

then split and rest above us all

would’ve heard the Galileans

miraculously uttering languages

they did not know

proclaiming good news

to people of every nation

 

Oh, joy! Euphoria!

 

I would’ve heard

preposterous ridicule and accusations

that we were drunk with wine

Drunk with wine so early in the morning!

 

Had I been there, I would’ve seen

Peter stand with his brethren

and quote the prophet, Joel

and speak of Jesus

Crucifixion, Resurrection

and call us to repent

 

and finally, would’ve witnessed

three thousand souls receive salvation

and I would’ve been in that number

 

Oh! How great that would’ve been

How exciting to imagine

 

but, I didn’t need to be there

God had other plans—

 

On another Holy Pentecost

His Spirit came to rest on me

just as surely as it did

on the early believers

in Jerusalem, that day

 

and just the same as they

I have been changed

 

forever

 

Maude Carolan Pych

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"Behold the Lamb...poetically!" by Maude Carolan Pych is available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more information visit Maude's website at www.maudecarolanpych.net.