Welcome to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members, founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your prayers. May God bless you.

Sunday May 11th, 2008 - Pentecost Sunday (Year A)

Gospel - John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’


 
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Acts 2:1-4



May 11, 2008, Pentecost Sunday - 50 Years of Neil McNeil High School - St. Paul's Basilica, Toronto, ON


NEW

May 2008
Neil McNeil High School

50th Anniversary

 
(click on cover)

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I believe in the
Holy Spirit...

 

"O Divine Spirit, I wish to be before you like a light feather, so that your breath may carry me where it wills and that I may not offer the least resistance to it."
Fr. Francis Libermann

 

Looking back through the years, I believe I have been most conscious of the presence of the Spirit of God in my times of greatest doubt, darkness and confusion. The years I spent in the seminary were years of great upheaval in the church. Priests and seminarians were abandoning their vocations. In the midst of my turmoil I joined a Pentecostal prayer group and found the clarity and peace that only the Spirit can bring. My faith was strengthened, my enthusiasm renewed, my sacramental and prayer life enriched. These were the gifts Holy Spirit to me. When I encounter signs of discouragement, I renew the intensity prayer life and always the Holy Spirit hears me from the turmoil, and restores me to peace and joy. I know the action of the Spirit of God from my own personal experiences. Yes, I certainly do believe in the Holy Spirit.

Locky Flanagan CSSp
Toronto, Ontario

I believe in the Holy Spirit - the third, and most intangible member of the Trinity and yet often the presence most felt in my life. I believe the Spirit is with me in all my roles - as woman, spouse, parent. friend, teacher, member of society. I recognize the Spirit in the quiet times in Church, in the struggles of life, in the ordinary moments of the day. It is the Holy Spirit who guides me in discerning the truth in matters of complexity, in determining the right course of action, and in interacting with concern for others. Grade One students are puzzled by the Holy Spirit and ask many questions. To answer, I refer to the classroom mobile that moves ever so slightly with the unseen air current - so the Holy Spirit moves in our lives, unseen and gentle, encouraging us in all our movements. It takes time to know, to understand, to believe.

 
Mary Jane Gowans
Waterloo, Ontario

Quite a long time ago, while sitting in a restaurant, I noticed on a nearby table a chubby kind of candle sitting comfortably in an attractive holder. The candle was burning brightly but the flame was quite still: no movement at all. I continued to wonder why. As the restaurant slowly filled with pie the activity on the part of the waiters increased. The table with the candle was now occupied. Almost immediately the flame 'came alive'. Slowly it dawned on me: it was the movement of the servers and the family sitting at the table that brought the candle to life. The candle had been there all the time waiting for something to happen. Is it not so with us? The Holy Spirit dwells within each of us, but it is only when I respond, en I move my heart toward, or deliberately focus my heart on the "Who" within me that the Spirit of God is really free to come alive.

 
Garry McCarthy CSSp
Toronto, Ontario

 

The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son and at the same time their mutual bond of love. The Holy Spirit hovered over the waters when the universe was still formless and empty; He now hovers over me and if I am open to his inspiration brings order to the chaos of my sinful self. He led the Israelites through the desert as a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of smoke in the daytime; He now leads me to truth and freedom if I open my heart to him. His love is often expressed by the element of fire, the tongues of fire that descended on the Church on the first Pentecost; when I open my heart to him He fills it with His love and burns away my sins and imperfections in the furnace of the eternal fire of His love - this can be very painful.

 

Enzo Agnoli CSSp
Edmonton, Alberta

In this year dedicated to the Holy Spirit, the words of the Creed have special meaning. For me, in a more powerful way, He is the Counsellor leading me into all truth. He is that great gift pouring God's love into my heart. He is the source of genuine happiness dispelling all sadness; my peace against the prince of darkness; my Sanctifier in striving to follow Christ. He is my greatest teacher in prayer, recalling to me Mary's "fiat". He is my sure guide renewing me in spirit, and assuring me that in spite of the glamour of this world's lights, it is the spirit that gives life. Finally, in the millennium that will soon end, one in which have occurred the great separations between Christians, I wish to unite with the Holy Father as he prays that through the power of the Holy Spirit we may again make up one body in the celebration of the same Eucharist, "a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of peace". Come, Holy Spirit, come.

 
John Cunningham CSSp
Edmonton, Alberta

 

I believe in the Holy Spirit present in his Church and in the world - even if people don't know his name. I believe the Holy Spirit is still the creating Spirit, and that he will give every morning fresh freedom, joy, and a new provision of hope, if we open our soul to him. The story of the Church is a long story filled with the wonders of the Holy Spirit we must remember the saints and the prophets, bringing, in hopeless times, a gulf stream of graces and new lights, and continue on the road. I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit ... Why should we think that God's imagination and love might be exhausted?

 
Cardinal Suenens
Belgium

I have eight children who are all grown up and pursuing their own lives and careers in five cities in three countries. When I reflect on those hectic years when I was a full-time Mom, I think of the Holy Spirit as background music. Always there, always comforting - a constant but unobtrusive reminder that I was not alone with the task. As you can imagine, I was frequently too busy or too tired to do much in the way of structured meditation in those days, but prayer was a constant undercurrent of all that I did. "God, keep David safe on this school trip." "God, thank you for getting Hugh into Notre Dame". "God, I don't like the look of this one, please go with Mairi on her date tonight!" Sometimes I am embarrassed to think of how much I have asked of the Holy Spirit over the years, and I am amazed at how infinitely willing the Spirit is to respond to the needs of one frantic Mom.

 
Rose Anne Hart
Toronto, Ontario

I believe that somewhere in our vast universe, there is someone who is ultimate love - who loves our world and all its peoples into being. I believe that God's Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love, remains with God's people to encourage, to sustain, to reconcile, to nurture, and to enliven so that we may in some small way reflect God's love as personified in the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. I believe that God's Holy Spirit, in a sense, is the heart of God - the lifeline, the energizer, the sustainer, and the giver of the great gift of love. This Holy Spirit, this gift / spirit of love is not the Hollywood love. Rather it is the love which is there in good times and bad: it is the love of God for me, for our world, which continually invites me to forgive, to be reconciled, to trust, to believe, to serve, to walk the extra mile. It is this love which continues to invite me to 'the more', to reach more deeply into who I am so as to explore and to live out of this incomprehensible mystery of God's love, the Holy Spirit. This mystery for me is contained in the reality that the God who created me from nothing loves me for no reason other than that God loves. In some small way this is what I am saying when I make my profession of faith, "I believe in the Holy Spirit".

 
Magdalen O'Rourke
Toronto, Ontario


May 11, 2008 - Pentecost Sunday & 50 Years of Neil McNeil High School

50 Years of Catholic Education at Neil McNeil


 

 

 

Come follow me...

 
Where is God calling you?

Spiritans, The Congregation of the Holy Ghost
Laval House
121 Victoria Park Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA
M4E 3S2

www.spiritans.com