These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

XXVI ORDINARY SUNDAY

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied. Moses said, "Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!" (Num 11:25-29)

God’s Spirit is generously given. The Spirit fills the earth and us too. Most of us do not think of ourselves as prophets, and so Saint Paul has some good advice for us, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thes 5:19). Perhaps we need to pay attention to that old prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.