n the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, we hear two accounts of the Pentecost. The more dramatic of the two occurs in our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles, empowering them to speak in different tongues so that the Jews from different lands who had gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message of Jesus proclaimed in their own language. The second, and perhaps less dramatic account is found in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) where the Risen Jesus, himself, appears to the Apostles on Easter Sunday, breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, empowers them to forgive sins in his name, and commissions them to go forth and continue the mission of announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.
There have been many changes in the past week. I am writing this column on Monday, May 18th, and there may be even more changes before you receive this bulletin at the end of the week. The Governor’s public health order currently in effect allows for houses of worship to hold services at up to 25% of their occupancy capacity as determined by the fire marshal. Here at Our Lady of Fatima, we have resumed our normal weekend Mass schedule which includes Masses at 5:30 pm on Saturday, and 7:30 am, 10:00 am and 12:00 noon on Sunday. The occupancy restrictions limit us to a maximum of 178 people in the church at each Mass. We were well within those limits this past weekend. In the event that on future weekends we reach the maximum allowed attendance at a Mass, we have set up the gym to accommodate the “overflow” with a second Mass being offered at the same time in the gym.
Today’s Second Reading, from the First Letter of Peter (1 Peter 3:15-18), tells us to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, but what does that mean? In our relationship with God, how do we accomplish this? “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel (John 14:15-21). That is how he will know that we love him. What he asks of us is not always easy, but Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to help us.
Running through all of the Scripture Readings in today’s Mass, is a strong sense of action, of movement by the Church and within the Church. The First Reading (Acts 6:1-7) tells of how certain widows were not being taken care of “in the daily distribution.” What was the “daily distribution”? Following Jesus’ word and example of feeding the hungry and caring for those in need, the Apostles would care for the local widows with what they had available to them – goods often gathered from the generosity of the Christian community. The number of Christians rose so quickly, however, that the Apostles could no longer preach the Word and distribute the alms to Christian widows.
Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. While we pray for the encouragement of all vocations – including those of married life and single life, this day is particularly set aside to pray for those whom God calls to religious life – as priests and deacons, religious sisters and brothers – to serve God’s people. For decades we have witnessed a severe decline in the number of men and women answering God’s call to serve the Church. It is not that God has stopped calling people to religious vocations. It is that those who have been called have declined the invitation.