The month of May has two secular dedications, both important at this time. Since 1949, May has been designated to highlight Mental Health Awareness. As one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness annually and less than half receive treatment, it's worth raising consciousness in the parish.

We hear different “giving of the Spirit” stories today: the spectacular events in the “upper room” and the risen Jesus’ breathing the Spirit on the disciples when he first appeared to them.

If the riveting movie Doubt taught us nothing else, it’s that there’s always room for being dead wrong. We don’t like to entertain that notion even in the privacy of our midnight thoughts.

As a youth minister, I taught teens about that oft-overlooked third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. How else to prep them for the sacrament of Confirmation, after all?

Catch the spirit! Celebrate the spirit! We’ve got spirit! Schools, businesses, yes, even churches set aside time to fire up people so that they will perform better, respond faster, show more excitement about what they are doing.

Come, Holy Spirit, and give us strength as we acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended with power upon the Apostles; thus began the mission of the Church in the world.

Browse our library for additional Solemnity of Pentecost, Cycle B material.

Click here to view the Take Five weekly for May 19, 2024.