Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well. In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
On this Pentecost Tuesday, today’s meditation is a contemporary writing of the traditional Pentecost Sequence entitled Pentecost in the Pandemic: a Contemporary Sequence. It is written by Fr. Leo O'Donovan SJ, President Emeritus of Georgetown University and Director of Mission at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. He is one of Jean's former teachers, a man whom we deeply admire for his communication of wisdom and for his passion for social justice. May this meditation nourish your contemplative-active hearts!
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time. May the Pentecost Season be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
Meditation Sixty: Pentecost in the Pandemic: A Contemporary SequenceCome, Holy Spirit,
come, Spirit of God,
come with your peace, your power, your light.
Come with forgiveness, courage and hope.Come, Spirit of God,
unite us with the risen Jesus,
turn us again to the Father of Jesus.
Together they pour You daily into our hearts.Come now to our suffering world,
sick with a killing virus
and everywhere threatened with silent death,
but most cruelly among your poorest children.Come to our first responders, our doctors
and nurses and hospital staff,
the men and women who preserve the civic order
and protect us from fire and bring us our food.Come now to the hearts and minds
of scientists seeking a vaccine for the pandemic,
to all who support their work, bringing to it
in equal measure patience and commitment.Comforter, we call you, Counselor, Consoler,
Advocate and Paraclete. Come now also to the borders
of our world—between Greece and Turkey, central
Africa and Kenya, Myanmar and Bangladesh,where millions on millions of men and women,
and children, helpless before the virus—
have fled violence, are homeless now, without sure shelter—
your sons and daughters, in such pain, our refugees.Come to the hearts and minds of all
who seek to walk with them, and care
and advocate and pledge a future that,
if found, will equally enrich ours as well.With your gift, the community of believers
who came to be called church was born.
Strengthen us to be working signs for all
humanity to be one, a community of mutual care,and a sacrament of salvation through your loving power,
united eternally with the Holy Mystery
who gives us Jesus, the Risen One among us, to bring
our suffering yet beautiful world home forever.Amen.
by Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J.
Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., is president emeritus of Georgetown University and director of mission at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.