How Filled Are You

I am kind of tired of the Facebook quizzes. A few days ago, I took the one "How Iowa Are You" - and passed. I didn't like my score, so I took it again and passed again with a spectacular score.

Most of the tests, though, are really ridiculous. What color are you? What 80s sit-com character are you? And, of course, there are some I cannot repeat because they are too foul to put on a Catholic blog.

But, there is one quiz you won't find on Facebook that is appropriate for today - today being the Feast of Pentecost.

How filled with the Holy Spirit are you?

Yes, one can get a pretty good idea. Take a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit. How many of them do you have? How about the fruits of the Holy Spirit? How is your life going in that area?

We take many of those ridiculous quizzes, but the self-assessment that really matters sometimes is forgotten. So, here's today's quiz. How many of the following do you routinely express in daily living?

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel (right judgment), fortitude (courage), knowledge, piety (reverence), and fear of the Lord (wonder and awe in God's Presence)

Fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity (love), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity

How Filled Are You

How I Spent Four Hours On A Yellow School Bus Today

Thankfully, I had the foresight to bring a book along with me today on the field trip. My new son-in-law passed it along to me on Sunday, and I grabbed it as I headed out the door this morning a little after seven AM. Peggy Noonan's inspiring prose is elegantly woven together in a complete work entitled John Paul the Great. Like the title and the beloved pope, the books itself is great.


It is appropriate to leave you with a quote, taken from JPII himself, on his first visit to Poland after being named pope (found on page 32).


As a bishop does in the sacrament of Confirmation so do I today extend my hands in that apostolic gesture over all who are gathered here today, my compatriots. And so I speak for Christ himself: "Receive the Holy Spirit!"


I speak, too, for St. Paul: "Do not quench the Spirit!"


I speak again for St. Paul: "Do not grieve the Spirit!"


Now, just days before we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, these words of John Paul II are as appropriate as ever.


And if you have four hours to pass on a big yellow school bus with some sixty elementary-aged kids, I highly recommend taking along Ms. Noonan's book. It almost turns a field trip into a pilgrimage - almost.

How I Spent Four Hours On A Yellow School Bus Today

Waiting For Pentecost

Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in wait-mode.



Waiting for someone to call.
Waiting for the weather to change.
Waiting for test results.
Waiting for a change of scenery.



What were those days like for the Apostles, those days between Our Lord's Ascension and Pentecost?



Did they have the sense of waiting, but not even sure what exactly they were waiting for? And did they ask themselves, when the Spirit comes, what will it mean? What will it bring? How will things change?



Acts 1:8-14
"It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Waiting For Pentecost