Today is Pentacost Sunday. I find the celebration of Pentacost--at least at Cabrini--to be quite exhilarating. I confess I missed this celebration. All dressed in red, ready to celebrate, my body had other ideas--sleep. Yet, nonetheless, Pentacost, and how we communicate it is alive in me tonight.
How Pentacost is celebrated in my life, how it was celebrated in a friend's life? By what means do we communicate today? First. Pentacost. A celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension. That is a definition of the day. Yet, definition is meaningless without context within our own lives, be it our own, someone we know, or a combination. [Interesting. I hadn't thought about that until this very moment.]
The context of Pentacost in my life is twofold. I was told of the Pentacostal celebration involving speaking in tongues. That celebration was meaningless because it was not shared with any context in his life. I do not know the spirituality--the spiritual context--in which my friend's mother celebrated Pentacost. So, to comment further would be a grave injustice--unforgivable disrespect.
My experience of Pentacost comes within the context of a Catholic faith community. Cabrini celebrates life and death with intense passion.
Fast forward 70 years. My experience of Pentacost? Different--not better, just different.
Pentacost. Cabrini--a faith community that celebrates life and death with the same passion. Pentacost, as I have experienced it is a celebration of our communal diversity. In the stead of spontaneous expressions of need and thanksgiving, Pentacost welcomes different intentions. Individuals fluent in various world tongues offer intentions in those foreign languages. But, the offering of intentions does not stop there. Cabrini is a community of passionate context. Following intentional expressions in foreign tongues, the individuals repeat the intentions in English. We are offered context. We celebrate that context.
How do you say hello???
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