Circling Doves

My goodness - a whole week since I posted. It must be the hot weather that suddenly arrived...  or just more sacraments and good stuff church-wise.

We had a great celebration of Pentecost weekend this year. At 6 o'clock Saturday evening in St Paul's, young Gabrielle made her first Holy Communion. She had missed out at the "proper time" and this is her normal Mass, so I was delighted to agree to it. She was beaming in her lovely special dress, and it made a great beginning to the Feast.

Back in St Paul's next morning the Children's Liturgy made an Olympic Torch with multi-coloured tissue paper flames pouring from it, and combined it with the theme of the Holy Spirit - very clever and inspirational. 

Back at St Brigid's for 10.30, we were baptising/receiving/confirming four new Catholics - a family of three and another lady. It was such a joyful occasion and the singing was particularly good - Spirit-led, I'm sure!  After a celebratory lunch at the 3 Arches (local hostelry), it was back over to St Paul's for a traditional Roary-Sermon-Benediction for May/Pentecost. Quieter, but just as beautiful.

Then back again to St Brigid's for a pause for breath before a Youth Mass at 6. Clare and her team had pulled in a particularly large number of young folks to take part, especially in teh music group - I thought it was fantastic, and got them clapping along at the last hymn. Such fine young Catholics, and such great hope for the future - bless them all. 

I rounded off the Feast of the Holy Spirit with an hour or two with our Sunday Prayer Group, which was fizzing too - we all prayed with one another, and I had a kind of mental picture not of flames separating, but of one Dove kind of splitting into many, circling over us all, one for each person.

Keep circling, Holy Spirit, as You did this weekend...