Do you remember the wonderful scene in “Miracle on 34th Street” (the original 1947 version) where a sad-looking little Dutch girl gets on Kris Kringle’s lap to tell him what she wants for Christmas? Her foster mother explains, “I told her you wouldn’t be able to speak her language, but she insisted on coming anyway.”

Suddenly, Santa begins to speak to the little girl in fluent Dutch. Can you imagine her joy? The look of wonder and the huge smile that breaks out on her little face says it all. And the Pentecost miracle has that spirit, too. Maybe each one hearing the apostles’ words in their native tongues felt something like the little Dutch girl—instant awe, amazement, joy, thinking, “How can this be happening? It’s unbelievable!” It means “Now I understand--now things can really start happening!”

Pentecost is about being sent out to bring the gospel everywhere we are. But part of being sent by Jesus is to keep the bigger goal in mind—that is, to bring about oneness and unity wherever you go. We ARE his hands and feet.

At times it seems that we have reached our destination, have gotten settled, the way pioneers settle in and stay put. It is good to get settled—but it can lead to a static church, which no longer feels the energy of our first call to conversion. Each one of us are called to use our energy and creativity to continue to build the Church. We’re all “sent”: first sent inward for prayer, and then outward to interact with God’s people. Let us pray that the Spirit will kindle in us a willingness to use our gifts and talents to build our new parish and to spread God’s word.

COVID UPDATE: It seems that each week we have new or relaxed guidelines to follow. As of this writing, (May 15th), people who are fully vaccinated do not have to wear masks in church. On Memorial Day, May 31st, churches will be allowed 100% capacity. Additionally, we will be able to celebrate our liturgies with very few restrictions. Here are some do’s and don’ts, but they like all things, are subject to change: