Jesus repeatedly promised the 'gift' of the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Early in His public ministry Christ said: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.' He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'

Jesus continues by telling us that our Father will give us a helper that will abide forever (John 14:16). The Spirit of Truth will guide us into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you'.

Our purpose is to become open to God's love in order to become like a flowing river bringing forth life to our family, friends, and others that come our way. The Lord is telling us, reminding us, and encouraging us to become vessels of the Holy Spirit. We are called to become partakers of Divine Nature receiving this powerful Grace to become fully alive, fully awake in this journey of life.

Beloved friends, as we come to celebrate and experience the reality and power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, may we become mindful to Glorify God in all that we do and in all that we say.

Remember what St. Paul said that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Let us faithfully ask our Lord to open our hearts to receive these gifts and become these gifts so the living water of God's love, compassion, and power may abundantly flow from our heart.

An excellent way of testing whether or not our acts attributed to the Holy Spirit are valid is to see if our acts bring glory to Jesus Christ. We must pay attention to see if our acts help nurture, support or encourage the other. We must notice if our words bring peace, harmony and life to conversations.

It is my hope that God's living water flows from our hearts at Holy Apostles especially as we come together during these months to make decisions with our potential home. I trust that we will find respectful ways to listen and understand one another.

This is an exciting time for our parish and I pray that the coming months will be another opportunity for all of us to come together, guided by the Holy Spirit to make important decisions that will impact our future. We may not all agree on all the issues at hand but it is extremely important that we are open and respectful, doing our best in humility, to move ahead guided by God's love and presence in our lives. In Our Risen Lord, Fr. Tom