SEDL: Pentecost

Grace: Dear Lord, open my heart.

Scriptural Reading:

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:19-23).

Points for Reflection:

1. The doors were locked and the disciples’ hearts were fearful. Fearful hearts are locked hearts. Locked doors and locked hearts, however, were not strong enough to prevent Jesus from lovingly breaking into their lives. Jesus breathed on his friends giving them the first fruits of the Spirit.

Later on Pentecost Day, still lacking in power but full of hope, these same disciples and probably others waited for the promise to be fulfilled – the promise of receiving the fullness of the Spirit. That they were waiting together says much about the importance of community. With fragile hope they waited. Suddenly the joyful, awesome sound of wind and fire arrive. Fearful hearts blossom with courage. The barriers that came from not understanding one another burn away with the fire of the spirit.

Surely in that moment the disciples must have remembered when Jesus came through the locked doors and breathed on them. In the mystery of eternity, you and I were present also. Whatever ups and downs we experience on our path of life, let us always remember the breath of the Spirit (by Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B.).

2. What have been instances, circumstances and events wherein I experienced locking my heart from other people? What happened? Who were the people involved? And, as I recall those moments, what significant feelings surface?

3. Share these events and feelings with your God. Listen to His/Her response.

4. End by just saying, "open my heart."

the fish story

SEDL: Hold On

Grace: Lord God, may I always have the assurance that the Spirit of Jesus will hold me fast and carry me home.

Scriptural Reading:

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” (Jn 17:11-19).

Points for Reflection:

1. On a recent shuttle mission in outer space, one of the astronauts had to make repairs on the outside of the spacecraft. He had to float free in space, held only by a tether to the ship. In such a situation of utter dependence, I would have a hard time being confident enough in the connection that was keeping me from floating off into oblivion.

If you have ever had the sense of being detached from God and sailing off to who knows where, then you know how much you can want the assurance of being connected. The Spirit is that connection and gives us a feeling of safety.

But the Spirit of Jesus is not the same thing as absolute certainty. As human beings aware of our predicament and our complete dependence on God, it’s hard sometimes to be confident enough in God’s love and mercy. I waver, and I wonder (Mark Neilsen).

2. Recall a significant moment, or two, in your life that you wavered in your confidence in God's love and mercy. What happened? What feelings surface as you recall it, or them?

3. Recall a significant moment, or two, in your life that you were grippingly conviced of God's love and mercy. What happened? What feelings surface as you recall it, or them?

4. Bring both to prayer and talk it over with your God. Share with your God both moments of wavering and gripping conviction. Listen to God's response.

5. End with the prayer for generosity.

SEDL: Remain in My Love

Grace: Lord, teach me to remain in your love.

Scriptural Reading:

Jesus said to his disciples:

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another” (Jn 15:9-17).

Points for Reflection:

1. In the March of the Penguins, a stunning documentary movie about penguins in Antarctica, our attention is riveted on the self-sacrificing existence of adult penguins with their arduous 70-mile hikes and months without food to keep their young chicks alive. Their lives are given over in self-sacrifice for their young.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us of what the fullness of love consists: “To lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” He exemplifies this love in his own total gift of himself on the cross. He tells us to do likewise, “Love one another as I love you.” In the penguins of Antarctica, nature appears to mirror its self-giving Creator.

While most of us will fortunately not endure arduous hikes or long periods without food, it is vital for us to give of ourselves so that others may live. To love fully, whether married or single, is to give of one’s self. And this self-sacrifice nurtures life, in others and in us (by Fr. Stephen J. Rossetti).

2. Recall the moments wherein you were able to give yourself to others. As young parents, what had been an experience of giving of oneself to others (i.e. to Elijah); as newly married couples, how were you able to give yourself to him or her in ways new to you; as leaders in your fields of expertise, how were you able to give yourself to staffs or colleagues who can not level with you because they lack the capacity or the capability. Try to recall those moments.

3. Recall too the significant feelings that accompanied those experiences. Bring them to prayer.

4. Try to think of three ways wherein you can give yourself to others – to your spouse, to your child, to your officemates, to your clients, to your staff. Do it in a week’s time.

5. End with the prayer for generosity.


The picture was taken on top of the Osmeña's place in the city of Cebu. The child is a sister of one of the scholars of the AOS (Apostolate of the Sea) Center. Fr. Roland, AOS's chaplain, brought the scholar's family for a lunch treat for him to meet and know them better.

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