We are blessed to be living in the age of the Holy Spirit. This ‘age’ began at the first Pentecost when the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the Church. The Holy Spirit is the living action of God and the Holy Spirit’s presence is both transforming and renewing. This wonderful gift is given to us in Baptism and strengthened in Confirmation. By the grace of these sacraments, we are enabled to be God’s instruments in the world today; we are empowered to bring spiritual change to the world. The Holy Spirit is present particularly where we least expect to find Him. No one can harness the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the action of love that has been given to the world in the gift of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son. God is love, and His love for us – and all His people – is far greater than we can begin to comprehend, as the psalm (Ps 103:12) puts it, His mercy towards us is …as far as the east is from the west! Responding to that love we give thanks each and every day, because it is the love in which we live and move and have our being. It is the love always at work in our lives, our parish and our world.

…but not until he had understood that God had never stopped loving him!