St. Paul says of the Holy Spirit, whose overflowing love is alive in all the mysteries listed above: “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). The love of God was truly poured out upon God’s chosen ones the evening of that first Easter Sunday when the risen Jesus, passing through locked doors, stood in the midst of the disciples and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:21, 23). God’s love and mercy is surely revealed in Jesus breathing forth the Spirit of love and forgiveness upon his disciples.
As modern-day disciples, let us go forward today.
—from the book Friar Jack’s Favorite Prayers
by Jack Wintz, OFM
