An amazing gathering took place on Sunday 24th May, Penetcost Sunday. Fr Abbot and the community invited the parishioners from our three parishes of Easingwold, Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside and Ampleforth to gather in a single Mass in the Abbot Church. Like the Apostles they gathered in one place to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We also had the additional pleasure of welcoming a visiting choir from Sr George’s School Windsor who added beauty through their singing to the liturgy of the day.
It was satisfying to see the Abbey Church full, and the atmosphere was truly one of celebration. Abbot Robert reminded the congregation that the gift of the Holy Spirit did not die with the first apostles and that for the past sixty-four years five Popes have invited us to pray and expect a ‘new Pentecost’. He pointed out that: “There is a world, a country, a family, a parish, a monastic community, a school hungry and waiting to be evangelised, transformed, and energised.”
Looking around the Abbey Church there were real signs of new life, young families, and young people. The children had their own liturgy of the Word but when they came back into the Abbey Church three representatives gave a clear account of what they had learnt. The Church is not dying but Abbot Robert challenged the congregation and the monastic community to decide if it was enthusiastic to welcome new people to faith or simply manage decline.
He suggested that as we respond to what seems to be a quiet revival and growth in interest in the Christian faith, we needed a focused response of prayer, confidence in God’s Word in scripture and the courage to invite others to come on the journey of faith. There will never be renewal without a prayer that costs. He asked: “What is the price you are prepared to pay to see God’s Kingdom come?” People are hungry for meaning and truth, therefore, Abbot Robert challenged those present to make sure that we gave the scriptures away free. “We need to get the Word of God into people’s hands and hearts.”
Finally, we need to be bold and courageous inviting others to experience the goodness, mercy, and healing of God. We must take any opportunity to invite family members, neighbours work colleagues to come and discover Jesus, as St Pope John II said in 1982: “… we open ourselves again to the gift of that same Holy Spirit. In that Spirit we are baptized. In that Spirit we are confirmed. In that Spirit we are called to share in the mission of Christ. In that Spirit we shall indeed become the People of Pentecost, the apostles of our time.”
