PENTECOST – A MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY

by Michelle Moran

On Pentecost day ‘they had all met in one room’ (Acts 2:1). They were expectantly waiting for what the Father had promised. Then ‘suddenly from heaven’ the promised Holy Spirit is poured out and the Church is born.

Pope St John XXIII at the time of Vatican II urged the Church to pray for a new Pentecost and subsequently, in the slipstream of the Council, a group of students at prayer in the Ark and Dove chapel began to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Undoubtedly, things happen when people gather together in prayer. So it is our hope that people from all over the world would continue to meet in the Upper room chapel of the Ark and Dove and pray that the Lord would never cease renewing His wonders today ‘as by a new Pentecost’.

Pope Francis has reminded us that this time after our Golden Jubilee is a good moment to pause and reflect, so we can move forward with even greater strength. Certainly our mission has not ended. Indeed, we are moving into a new phase of our history. Now is the time to ‘widen the space of our tent’ (Isaiah 54:2) The new service of CCR, CHARIS will come into effect at Pentecost 2019. The mission of the Ark and Dove supports the vision of CHARIS. We will all play our part in building deeper communion across the various streams of the Renewal, encouraging everyone to go deeper in the grace of baptism in the Holy Spirit and to manifest the mature fruits.