Light My Fire

I've been away all week at our annual Presbyteral Assembly.  This year, the priests of the Diocese of Ogdensburg gathered in Alexandria Bay for a time of retreat.  It was a good preparation for what this weekend has brought: the ordination of a deacon (Friday night) and a priest (Saturday morning) for ministry here in the North Country.  What a joyful sign of the Holy Spirit's continued work among us!  Please pray for Deacon Scott Belina and Father Thomas Higman as they begin their ministry among the People of God.

I'll be taking part this afternoon in Father Higman's First Mass at his home parish of St. James in Carthage...so there's no homily to send your way.  But I did, nonetheless, want to share one of my favorite reflections on what this great feast of Pentecost means for us in the Church today--brief words, but powerful...

   Pentecost   B 

Readings

"Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them."

Acts of the Apostles 2:3

We have come to consider high attendance at anything as a sign of success; we have forgotten that, on Pentecost, the standard was a bit higher: people had to be on fire.

Fr. Michael Heher