A Day of Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Diocesan Phase of the Universal Synod will be celebrated on Pentecost Sunday 5 June 2022.
Pentecost Sunday offers us all an opportunity to give thanks for the prayerful engagement and listening that has taken place across the country as we journey together synodally.
Please see below some Homily Notes and Prayers of the Faithful for use as part of the Day of Prayer. You can also download these resources in MS Word format along with some Novena Prayers leading up to Pentecost. See below:
Pentecost Sunday 2022 – Homily Pointers, Prayer of the Faithful and Novena
Homily Notes
- Key to this is making connection with the Pentecost experience and our experience of synodal gatherings.
From the First Reading
- All met in one room.
- This first reading is well known and it is easy to imagine the disciples gathered in one space.
- It connects to the synodal gatherings all over the world, where God’s people met and in encountering each other, we became aware of the presence of the Spirit in our gatherings. The Spirit of Pentecost was very alive.
- They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them speech.
- So often in our parish and diocesan gatherings we heard people say that they felt the freedom of the Spirit in being able to speak their truth without being judged. It was as if we were able to hear each other and speak in each other’s language.
From the Second Reading
- Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son or daughter of God.
- There have been moments in our synodal process where we have been profoundly moved. There has been a sense that were touched by God’s Spirit.
- There were moments where we shared our hopes, our joys, our fears and our sorrows and really felt listened to.
- The Spirit you received is not the Spirit of slaves brining fear into your lives.
- In much of the synodal sharing there was a sense that in the past we were driven by fear.
- This synodal process has highlighted for us all that the future of the Church is about being a people of hope, led by the love that come from the Holy Spirit.
From the Gospel
- The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
- This synodal moment is a great teachable moment for us all led by the Spirit.
- What are we learning from the Spirit?
- We have learned that we can listen to each other, respect each other and in this notice where the Spirit is leading us.
- We have learned that journeying together is more important that journeying alone.
- We have learned to treasure what each person has shared.
- We have learned to notice that in our sharing the Spirit indicates the direction of the journey.
- We have also learned to remember what was shared, to treasure the sharing and to revisit it often to help us to discern the way ahead.
Prayers of the Faithful
Presider:
As we gather this Pentecost Sunday, we pray for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit on our world that the face of the earth will be renewed. Come Holy Spirit
Reader:
For the Church the People of God:
That we may continue to journey together our synodal path trusting in the power of the Spirit to transform us.
Come Holy Spirit
For our parish communities:
That we will listen to each other to understand, and in understanding we will notice the movement of the Sprit.
Come Holy Spirit
For our world and all its people:
That the Holy Spirit who lives in each person will move us to build a world where understanding, peace and love reign.
Come Holy Spirit
For those who are suffering in any way:
That all who are sick or distressed will know the healing power of the Spirit in their lives.
Come Holy Spirit
For those Spirit filled people who have gone before us to eternal life:
That they will know the joy of the Kingdom and the fullness of God’s presence.
Come Holy Spirit
Presider
Holy Spirit, Lord of life,
on this great feast of Penecost,
fill your Church throughout the world with the power to transform and change all things,
as you renew the face of the earth, renew each one of us too.
We ask this through Christ the Lord.
Websites and Social Media
Please see below a web and social media visual for promotion of the Day of Prayer:
You can also find daily thought for the day visuals on the Synodal Pathway social media accounts:
Facebook: Synodal Pathway – Ireland
Twitter: @synodalpathway
ENDS
