Firstly, a short update for you readers: I have completed my second year of college, thanks be to God! I am majoring in Religion. I am getting a certificate in Creative Writing and a certificate in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. This summer, I have two wonderful jobs. I am an intern for the Archdiocese of Detroit and I am an assistant gardener at Cranbrook House and Gardens. Evangelization and flowers. My Father in Heaven knows how to please me! And a shout out to the number one Bride! To the Body of my Beloved Christ! Happy Birthday Church! Pentecost Sunday is this week--we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. AND we LIVE Pentecost. We get to join the disciples in prayer. After all, Jesus said to ask and we will receive. If we ask for an awesome Pentecost in which the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit fill us up so much that we can't help them from bursting from us and gushing upon the people around us, then we can be certain Jesus will keep His word and give us just that. So, ever heard of speaking in tongues? The Holy Spirit told me to open up Acts of the Apostles to prepare myself for Pentecost. I read Chapter 2 in which Peter and the disciples are in the Upper Room in Jerusalem praying together. Suddenly, tongues of fire come to rest upon them. They are driven by the Spirit and go out into the streets of Jerusalem where "devout Jews from every nation under heaven" are staying (Acts 2:5). They proclaim the good news, and every person hears the disciples speaking in their own native tongue. Say I speak Arabic and Peter only speaks Aramaic. Well, because of the omnipotent Holy Spirit, I hear Peter speaking in Arabic and I understand him perfectly. Pretty cool stuff. Even cooler, is that people are still speaking in tongues today as it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We should totally ask the Holy Spirit for this gift. And I think that we can ask the Holy Spirit to take this gift a step further. Dear Holy Spirit is all about taking things further. For babies and children, we talk to them in very simple (sometimes obnoxious), really high pitched voices. Sometimes we don't even use words, but try to imitate odd baby sounds. We might lightly squeeze the baby's toe or let the child grasp our finger. For teenagers, we use a different language. I would suggest not squeezing a teen's toe. Then, for adults, we switch up our language, and for the elderly, we switch up our language some more. For our families, we use pretty laid back, casual language. But even the language we use for our parents is different than what we use for our siblings. At work, our language is usually formal and professional. Yet even at work, speaking to a co-worker or speaking to an employer, or speaking to a client, can totally shift the language we use. Then, for people we know well, we speak familiarly and easily while for those we do not know well, there are many more boundaries and conversation can be more superficial and formalized. A difference I have noticed in my own life is that the language that nuns speak is totally different than what college students speak. The Poor Clares would use phrases like "God reward you," instead of "thank you," or "I humbly beg you..." instead of "please." Then at college, students will say...a few things that I probably shouldn't repeat. I will say that instead of "great," they might say "lit" or "wild." At the end of this school year, my roommates and I laughed about how we picked up the "language" that each one of us spoke--our different sound effects, vocabulary, and tones. The Poor Clares I was with and the college students I am currently with all speak English. Yet, you could say though that we use and speak the English language quite differently. I think you get my point. Everyone speaks a different language. Well, Holy Spirit, teach me to speak in different languages! Come upon me with fire and help me to relate to each person individually. Paul says, "I have become all things to all" (1 Cor 9:22). For followers of the law, Paul became like those who followed the law, and for those who were outside the law, he became like one outside the law, so that he may reach them (1 Cor 9:20-22). Think simply of Our Blessed Mother and her apparitions. When she appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico, she appeared as an Aztec princess, speaking his language. And then, when Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France, she appeared European and spoke in St. Bernadette's tongue. Yet, when Mary lived in 1st century Nazareth, she surely spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. Perhaps she knew some Greek as well. It would depend on if she was reading scripture, speaking to a Jew, or a gentile. God meets us where we are at. I think of myself and my personality, gifts, talents, strengths, weaknesses, faults, etc. I have a pretty big imagination, love adventure, writing, the outdoors--God uses all of that when He speaks to me. In prayer (aka talking to God), I often can imagine Jesus right in front of me (sometimes He is literally right in front of me when I'm in front of the Eucharist). Jesus and I have a lot of inside jokes--stuff that only myself and Him understand. He just speaks my language so well! And He constantly beckons me to join Him on adventures. Sometimes it is a literal adventure like hiking through the Holy Land or entering a Poor Clare monastery. Sometimes it is a little, not so noticeably adventure, like conversing and praying with a stranger at a park. Even writing this article right now is an adventure as I dodge OCD's complaints and I open myself up to the movement of the Holy Spirit Who is burning with awesomeness. God comes to me where I am at and He comes to where others are at. For some, God is really manifest through sports and teamwork. For others, they love the game of chess! For some, watching a movie or listening to music is what works for them. Some are wealthy; some very educated. Some are street smart or book smart. Some are living in poverty by no choice of their own and some are living in voluntary poverty. Wherever we are in life and whatever gifts and personality we have, God comes to us. His message is the same to all of us, but the way He gives it to us is different. He tells us all that Jesus died for our sake and rose from the dead. That He died to save us from our nasty sins and rose to bring us to a new fabulous life with Him! Basically, the whole Holy Bible says just that in a million different ways. Dearest Jesus! Help me to speak in tongues that are foreign to me. Give me the gift and the grace to understand others languages and give me the power to speak in their language. Help me forget myself and totally let You live in me. Make me like You, wonderful Jesus. Let me be all things to all people.
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AuthorJacqueline St. Clare: I spent six months in a cloistered convent, and now I'm a college student! Archives
April 2021
SpiritualityVocationMental ILlnessSeasonalADVENT LENT
Unexpected Church MembersAll words that are underlined can be found on the "Glossary" page
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