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. However we tell the story, the presence of the Spirit is essential to the mission of Christ’s disciples.

Defining moments happen when your head, your heart, and your soul are all aligned. A moment when you know you have something to live for, that everything that has ever happened to you has meaning.

If the riveting movie Doubt taught us nothing else last year, 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.

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.

Ali is a simple carpenter now, but his boss, Abe, knows that he was once a colonel in the army–strong, disciplined, brave, and loyal.

"To be alive, and feeling free, and to have everyone in our family!” Forty young guys sang out those words at the top of our voices. We were on retreat in our senior year of high school.

We who have heard of the mighty acts of God done for us, now make our prayers to that same God, whose Spirit gives us life.

Receive the Holy Spirit. The readings this weekend, including the epistle and gospel options, present a rich offering on the coming of the Spirit and the gifts that flow from it.

Come, Holy Spirit. . . . You, Spirit of truth, are the reward of the saints, the refreshment of souls, light in darkness, the riches of the poor, the treasury of lovers, the satisfaction of the hungry, the consolation of the pilgrim church.