Pentecost Sunday ends our Easter Season!  There is always a tiny part of me that is sad when Easter Season ends.  I want the joy of the season and the celebration to continue forever.  Pentecost marks the return to Ordinary Time.  Ordinary Time, though, is where most of our life happens.  For most of us, the celebration of Easter is one day or if we are lucky, maybe the full Easter weekend.

While I am always sad to see Easter Season end, Pentecost brings me great hope.  The scriptures on Pentecost Sunday burst with hope-filled lines and the promise of the Holy Spirit to remain with us in our daily, ordinary lives.

• “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” ~Acts 2: 1-11
• “Spirit enabled them to proclaim” ~ Acts 2:1-11
• “Those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God” ~ Rom 8:8-17
• “Receive the Holy Spirit” ~Jn 20:19-23
• “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name,will teach you everything” ~Jn 14:15-16, 23-2

Pentecost is the reminder that we are not alone in the ordinary work of our lives.  We are not alone as we go to work, as we raise children, as we love our spouses.  We are not alone as we walk through hard times, through grief, through death.  We are not alone as we face transitions, change, and uncertainty.

The Holy Spirit is with us.  God remains with us as we go about the ordinary work of our lives.  Daily we receive  Advocate, the Holy Spirit, and that brings me great hope!

Becky Eldredge

Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.