Pentecost

“Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where he will.”

—St. Bede the Venerable

Greetings in this season after the great feast of Pentecost! In the beginning of this ordinary time, I pray that you feel the holy Wind of God at your sails, leading you on.

“Spirit” (pneuma in Greek) means “breath” or “wind.” It is the teeming power of life that blew into Adam in the beginning, animating the man of clay. It is the One who fell upon the friends of Christ at Pentecost, forcing them out of the upper room with a fiery gust that has never since been contained. It is that same Wind who “blows where it wishes,” Christ said (John 3:8). A spiritual life is a life moving with that direction and not against it.