Reflection

Igniting Hearts

Our theme for the year speaks of igniting hearts. On the weekend the Church celebrated the great Feast of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the infant Church with the apostles gathered with Mary.  The Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and ‘appeared on them as tongues of fire’.  In the Pentecost Sequence in the Liturgy we hear that the  Holy Spirit  ‘warms the frozen and melts the chill’.  The Sacred Heart of Our Lord burns with love for all people and sends down the Holy Spirit to ignite our hearts.  If we truly desire to have our hearts ignited it is indeed the Holy Spirit that can truly ignite them.  The question is what do we have to do to ignite our hearts?  How can we have our hearts ignited?

The starting point for us to be ignited is opening our hearts and creating a space for the Holy Spirit.  We need to come to a place where we see that we need the Holy Spirit to be all that we have been created to be.  When our hearts are ignited by the Holy Spirit we can do and be things we could not imagine possible.  Our way to do this is to take time, be quiet, be still and with our Hearts and  ask the Holy Spirit to come upon us. The ancient prayer of the Church is ‘Come Holy Spirit’.  If we are able to create a space in our hearts with stillness and silence and pray with our hearts, then the Holy Spirit will ignite our hearts and we will see in our lives the fruits of the Holy Spirit with peace, joy, gentleness, patience and generosity to name a few.  These are things we all desire and can be seen clearly in our lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to ignite our hearts.  Come Holy Spirit!

Holy Family of Nazareth – be our inspiration and our guide.

Jesus of Nazareth – help us to grow in faith, wisdom and knowledge.