Pentecost is a Family Celebration

 Greetings,

The commemoration of Pentecost is jubilant celebration of our Church around the world.  A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Rome to study our Benedictine history and we were blessed to celebrate Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica on Pentecost!  The experience was overwhelming: thousands of people, dozens of languages, so many different nationalities; all sharing the same faith, we were family.

For those of us from Yankton, the experience continued as we traveled to the visit the sisters from our Swiss roots.  The language struggles of German to English and the cultural differences all fell aside when we celebrated Eucharist and Prayer together; all sharing the same Monastic Tradition, we were still family.

These windows illustrating the Pentecost are in the Chapel with our sisters at Rickenbach, Switzerland.

Psalm Response 104
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures;
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.

Blessings,