A Pentecost Prayer

As I read each of the scripture readings for Pentecost Mass, my eyes began to well up. Let me explain. When I was a kid and later as a teenager in the 80s and 90s, I was very optimistic about the world. I witnessed the Berlin Wall being brought down, Gorbachev’s perestroika open up the USSR, missile treaties made between Cold War nations, and the racial and economic divides being addressed. I remember the Ethiopian famine and how the singers and artists came together and sang, “We are the world? We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day. So, let’s start giving!” It gave me hope. I truly believed then, that one day we will work through our problems; that one day there will be fewer poor people in the world; and that nations will spend less on weapons and more on education and human progress. Now at sixty, I feel deflated. Today’s global conflicts, racial divides, economic inequalities, political and religious intolerance, cruelty towards vulnerable immigrants and refugees, and the culture of death make me feel that we are digressing. I have not lost hope, but my hope that in my lifetime I will see a more equitable, peaceful, and united world is fading.

Pentecost was the beginning of a revolution, a recreation of a wounded world. I love that which Pentecost stands for – mutual understanding, peace, and harmony. The tears in my eyes expressed two things: first, they capture my sadness that our world continues to be a broken and wounded world; second, they express my pining for a new Pentecost. “Dear God,” I prayed, “Let there be a new Pentecost.”

 

This Pentecost reflection is a prayer - a prayer for global peace, a prayer for social harmony, and a prayer renewal in our church, family, and personal lives.

A Prayer for Peace

“Dear God, twice in today’s account of your Son’s appearance to his disciples, he wished them, “Peace.” Jesus offered them peace when they were tormented with violence and overwhelmed with fear. Today our world is torn apart by conflict, war, and ever dangerous arms race. Our world is wounded by sin and selfishness - hunger, gun violence, the culture of death, economic insecurity, and exploitation of the poor and vulnerable of the world. We are broken.

“Holy God, we believe that your gift of peace was not an empty promise. On that day, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” We pray, dear God, breathe on our leaders and give them wisdom to seek peaceful ways resolve differences. May they not be led by the quest for power and dominance but the desire for the common good. Also breathe your Holy Spirit on the universal Church and on us. Forgive us our sins - our sins in thoughts, words, and actions that contribute to hatred, violence, war, fear and a culture of death. Renew your gift of peace to us, that we may be disciples and sacraments of peace in our broken world. Amen.”

A Prayer for Harmony

“Dear God, that first Pentecost revealed our common dignity as human persons created and loved by you. People of different nations, peoples, languages, cultures, and races recognized the one language of love and harmony.”

“Holy God, the harmony you gifted to us at Pentecost evades us today as racial, ethnic, religious, class, caste and ideological divides become more pronounced. I pray dear God, that what you began at Pentecost is recreated in our world today. Help us to live in harnomy with the created world. May we speak the common language of love, of acceptance, and of reconciliation. May we seek to understand each other more rather than seek to highlight our differences. May we celebrate the diversity of our languages, our cultures, our races, and ethnicities rather than suppress them. Touch the hearts of those who exploit our differences and teach us to hate each other. Pour out your Holy Spirit on our lives, that we may shed our own prejudices, overcome our differences, and do our part to bring harmony in our homes, our church, our neighborhood, and our world. Amen.”

A prayer for Unity

 “Holy God, Pentecost is the birthday of your Church. Today, your Holy Church, the very people you birthed, are in need of the same grace that they received that first Pentecost. Doctrinal differences tear us apart. The very people who bear your name are divided - in your name. After Pentecost, more and more people joined your church because their unity was a witness to your presence among them.”

“Holy God, we pray for a renewal in your church. Renew each one of our lives with your gentle breath. Let the same strong driving wind that swept the upper room that day, sweep over your church. Today, let the fire or your love kindle our hearts. Let the fruit of your Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control - be self-evident in your church. We pray also for our families. May our homes be your dwelling, a little church. Renew our families. Give them unity and make them holy. And for us your disciples, we pray, renew our faith and strengthen us from within. Amen.”

And finally, I conclude with the traditional Prayer of the Church.

"Come Holy Spirit,

Fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you shall renew the face of the earth.

Amen.

Fr. Satish Joseph