Scripture Scribbles: May 28, 2023 Pentecost Sunday

the Gospel

John 20:19-23

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.”

the devotion

I often call on the Holy Spirit.

It is probably the Person of the Trinity that I call on the most. I feel a certain natural connection with the Holy Spirit that I sense is a real gift from the Lord. 

You see, though, for a long time I did not understand the Holy Spirit. Maybe you can relate? 

Yes, I made the felt doves and the painted tongues of fire crafts in CCD class, and yet, until just a few years ago I had no clue who the Holy Spirit really was. 

The Holy Spirit is alive. He is speaking to you right now. He’s actually probably the reason you clicked on this link. I’m willing to bet He’s the reason you are currently reading this devotion. 

I think what I love the most about the Holy Spirit is that He is the primary One who is interacting with us in our day-to-day activities. There is nothing too small or too insignificant about your day to the Holy Spirit. He wants to be involved in every little decision you make as you go about your day. 

Have you ever heard the phrase, “follow your heart”? 

Before my conversion it was often how I would describe the way I would make life decisions. Pre-conversion I often spent some time thinking about whether or not a decision “felt right in my gut.”

I’d like to suggest that “gut feeling” of yours could very well be the Holy Spirit speaking to you. 

The Holy Spirit is the true “breath of God” (Jn 20:20, CCC 689). When Jesus proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26), He calls him the "Paraclete," literally, "he who is called to one's side," ad-vocatus (CCC 692). 

This means that the Holy Spirit wishes to be involved in your decision making. Whether it be which job you take, which podcast episode you listen to, whether you crack open your Bible, or if you spend that extra five minutes reading to your child. He is there, in your everyday split second decisions, guiding you closer to Christ and urging you to grow in love. 

Have you ever felt a nudge to do some act of love? 

It could be as small as texting that friend who just fell sick with a cold or dropping a meal off to a new mom. Or maybe it is a sudden random feeling that you should call your sibling and catch up with them. 

This could very well be the Holy Spirit inviting you, nudging you, urging you, to do something that is unique and specific to your calling on Earth. 

Here are a couple of ways to begin to discern this: 

• Is the thing you feel the nudge to do something Good, as Scripture and the Church define it?

• Has it been “stuck on your heart” for a certain period of time? 

If you answered yes to the above two questions, I think there is a good bet that this is a calling from the Holy Spirit. 

Start acting on these little nudges, and trust me, life will open up. Those tongues of fire will begin to make a lot more sense. 

The incredible beauty of the Holy Spirit is that He “leads us into all Truth” (Jn 16:13, emphasis added). 

It is a movement; of your heart, of your body, of your life. 

He wishes to co-create moments of love with you. 

The question is, will you respond?

Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith