L E A D E R

G U I D E

Opening Word
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advent pentecost

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pentecost

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changed, transformed, renewed

Leader Overview
any people wonder whether what happened at Pentecost, as described in this weeks account from Acts 2, still happens. The answer is a resounding Yes. The Scriptural account traces the parallels between how the Spirit came down in fire, loud sound, and personal revelation to the Apostles on that Pentecost day and the giving of the Law on Sinai, where similar things happened. But the most important aspect of this reading is not the extraordinary phenomena of fire, wind, and the gift of tongues. Rather, the crucial point is the transformation that took place in the lives of the Apostles, who changed from timid souls cowering in a locked room to fearless witnesses of what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. These same changes occur today in all who receive the Holy Spirit. It is in this sense that Pentecost still happens, as souls who live according to Gods Spirit experience the same lifetransforming power of God that changed the Apostles 2,000 years ago. Notice how the second reading ties the coming of the Holy Spirit to baptism. Not only does everyone receive the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good but all are baptized into one body, where all drink of one Spirit. In like manner, the Gospel links the Holy Spirit with the forgiveness of sinsnot only the sins wiped away at baptism but the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism. The Holy Spirit does not come only once to us, but continues to dwell within our souls and transform us. As you discuss the readings for Pentecost with participants, encourage them to use the Scriptures as a guide for their prayer time through the tradition of the Lectio Divina. Challenge yourself as well as participants to recognize ways that the Holy Spirit empowers you to do what you cannot do on your own.

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readings & reflections

pentecost sunday

Read these reflections before your group meets to give you insight into each Scripture Reading for this week.

First Reading
~ Acts 2:111 ~

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

Reflection
he Jewish feast of Pentecost, which is sometimes called the feast of Weeks or Sabbaths because it occurs seven Sabbaths after the feasts that commemorate the Passover events at the time of the Jewish exodus from Egypt, was to mark the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, as well as to celebrate the full barley harvest in the spring of the year. The giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments, was accompanied by dramatic eventsloud trumpets, smoke and fire on Mt. Sinaithat revealed the Divine presence and power at work in the formation of the covenant with Israel at the time of Moses. On this new and first Christian Pentecost, God again demonstrates His presence and power by signs and wonders. And the clearest revelation that we receive from these signs and wonders is that the Church is already catholic, which means universal. The first 12 names of nations listed in Acts represent the Greek pattern of the twelve peoples, a symbol for all the nations, and then to these is added a 13th, Rome, indicating the goal of Lukes book of Acts: It begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome where Paul and Peter will be martyred in witness to the truth of Christ. Already Luke shows us, according to Joseph Ratzinger, that even before the first step of that journey to Rome is taken, the one Church, the Church that speaks all tonguesthe ecclesia universalis is already revealed. This new Mt. Sinai, this new Pentecost, will form a new Israel of all nations and peoples bound in a catholic unity born of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

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Responsorial Psalm
~ Psalm 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 R: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD, my God, you are great indeed! How manifold are your works, O LORD! the earth is full of your creatures; R: May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD be glad in his works! Pleasing to him be my theme; I will be glad in the LORD. R: If you take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. R:

long to receive and to exercise them. St. Peter reminds us that we are chosen and precious, and he further exhorts us, Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God though Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4 and 5).

Or:
Romans 8: 817 A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, Abba, Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Second Reading
~ Corinthians 12: 3b7, 1213 Brothers and sisters: No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Reflection

Reflection

n this reading we see revealed the mystery of the Church as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Recall that Jesus said in John 2:19 Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then John interjects, He spoke of the temple of His body (John 2:21). In St. Paul Jesus body is the figure of the Church of which we are all members by Baptism. Just as a soul animates the human body, the Holy Spirit animates this Mystical Body of Christ, which is His Church. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit, Paul tells us. On this Pentecost we should ask what benefit for the Church am I to manifest in the Spirit? Every one of us is by Baptism a custodian of some gift that is meant to benefit the Body of Christ. The Spirit is still falling and still manifesting His gifts, and we ought to

ur Baptism bestows on us the supreme honor of being sons in the Son. This is a gift of God and nothing that we can merit. In the Church we are mystically united to Christ in such a way that we share in His unique, divine Sonship. Having first been constituted as creatures by Gods creative power, we are now made sons and daughters by the re-creative power He exercises in Christs saving death and resurrection. Sinful creatures, still living according to the flesh, ought to fear the Creator God, but children, who now live by the Spirit, have nothing to fear from that same God who has disclosed in Christ that He is not just Creator but Father. The sign, according to St. Paul, that we have been freed from sin and made capable of living a new life of holiness is the Spirit of adoption that enables us to cry out, Abba, Father! That Spirit comes to us in Baptism and that baptismal dignity is completed in Confirmation, when the gifts of the Holy Spirit come to operate in us still more, serving as an impulse, a power, to drive us toward God the Father and the fullness of life in the Spirit of Christ. Each time we pray, Our Father, who art in heaven we are renewing that Spirit of adoption. Let us pray it, each time, with love and longing for the coming of the kingdom in us that Christs Sonship in us promises.

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Gospel
~ John 20: 19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. 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. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.

Reflection
n this scene from the Resurrection account of John we have a kind of mini-Pentecost. The dramatic events of Pentecost day that will reveal the Church to the wider world are already being played out in this Resurrection event, which is itself connected in Johns Gospel to the moment of Jesus death on the Cross, when He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30). His last breath is the sign of the forgiveness of sins that is now set in motion in the Church on that first day of the week. This text from John 20 is considered to be clearest sign of the institution of the sacrament of Confession or Reconciliation in the Gospels. What Jesus had promised to Peter in particular and then to the Twelve collectively in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, now finds a precise form in the ministry of mercy. When we think of the gift of the priesthood to the Church, do we first think of the gift of Gods mercy that it brings to us? Often we think of the pope, bishops, and priests as authority figures, as a kind of necessary concession to the needs of ordering a human society on earth. But the mystery of the priesthood is much deeper and richer than mere organizational requirements, as real as they are. In the Church, Peter and the Apostles, and their successors, the pope and bishops, are a gift of His mercy to us.

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STEP #1

OPENING PRAYER
SAY:Welcome to our study of Opening the Word for Pentecost Sunday. Lets begin our time together by praying this prayer from Psalm 104: O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. These all look to You to give them their food in due season. When Thou give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things. When You hide Your face, they are dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. Holy Spirit, we praise You, who transform our lives. Whether we were baptized as infants or as adults, You continually work Your wonders in us. Make us sensitive to Your movements of grace, and enable us to use Your many gifts both for our own good and for all whom You send our way. Amen.

STEP # 2 INTRODUCTION
OF THE THEME
SAY: If you had been in that upper room with Mary and the Twelve Apostles on the day of Pentecost, what would you have initially thought was happening when the loud noise occurred and the tongues of fire appeared? LEADER TIP:
Answers may vary from the meteorological (a tornado is coming), to the pyrotechnical (the building is on fire), to the pious (the Holy Spirit is coming). Encourage participants to speak up even if they think their answer is silly.

(Allow one minute for discussion.)

LEADER TIP:
Depending on when your group meets, you may want to take time to read the Scripture passages from each reading before beginning the Lectio Divina. (See Introduction for Details)

STEP # 3 LECTIO DIVINA

SACRED READING OF SCRIPTURE

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SAY: This Sundays readings have a lot to say about how the Holy Spirit transforms our lives. In the video for this week, lets look briefly at what the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit tells us about our own lives.
(Play the video for Pentecost Sunday in its entirety. This will play for approximately 5 minutes.)

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STEP # 4 LECTIO DIVINA

Small Group Question #1

MEDITATION

SAY: This weeks presenter, Edward Sri, described three ways the New Testament Pentecost experience parallels the giving of the Law at Sinai on the first Pentecost. What are the parallels? Leaders Tip: In both cases, the Holy Spirit comes with a loud noise (trumpet blast, loud rushing wind) and with fire; and in both cases each person among the people hears the message for himself. See the following chart:

Law at Sinai (Exodus 19-20)

Israelites assemble at the mountain (19:17) Thunder and trumpet blast (19:16, 19) Fire on mountain (19:18) God descends on mountain (19:20) People hear God speaking (19:9, 20:18)

Spirit at Jerusalem (Acts 2)

Apostles gather in Upper Room (2:1) Multitude assemble at the sound (2:6) Noise of loud, rushing wind (2:2) Tongues of fire on disciples heads (2:3) Disciples filled with Holy Spirit (2:4) Assembly hears preaching in their own languages (2:811)

Small Group Question #2 SAY: What is an example given in the video of how the Holy Spirit makes changes in us? Leaders Tip: When we receive the Spirit at baptism, we have the power to live Christs life, to do

things we couldnt do naturally. The New Law is not a code written on stone like the Old Law given at Sinai. The New Law is the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and transforming our weak, hard hearts, enabling us to live the Christian life of virtue and holiness in a way we could not do on our own.

Small Group Question #3 SAY: In the video, Edward Sri pointed out that, through the sacrament of Baptism, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and we become radically changed people. We also know from experience that, just as the Apostles denied Jesus even though they had spent up to three years in his company, we too deny Jesus by our sins. In His wisdom, God has given us the gift of forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of Reconciliation, which restores and refreshes the life of the Holy Spirit within us. How important a gift is this sacrament to you personally, and how might you thank the Holy Spirit for it? Leaders Tip: Answers to this question may depend on participants experience of the sacrament. Some people already may be regularly participating in the sacrament of Reconciliation.Others may have been away from this sacrament for many years and are unsure of what to do or are afraid to speak their sins to a priest. For people in this situation, it may be helpful for the leader to give a brief catechesis on the sacrament (see Catechism, 142070) and explain step by step the process of making a good confession.
For those who are recent converts or preparing for their first confession, the gift of the sacrament of Reconciliation would most likely grow in importance to the newly baptized as they begin to experience it. Already baptized candidates received into the Church at the Easter Vigil often testify to a great relief from receiving the sacrament, and would acknowledge its importance to themselves. Whatever ones situation may be, one way to thank God for the sacrament of Reconciliation would be to take advantage of it regularly; for example, once a month.

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STEP # 5 LECTIO DIVINA

PRAYER & RESOLUTION

SAY: We saw in the first reading how the coming of the Holy Spirit transformed the Apostles from timid people in hiding into fearless preachers and witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus. The transformation came suddenly in their case. But in many cases, transformation comes gradually over time. Lets now take time to pray to God and write in our journals about how we can invite the Holy Spirit to transform our weaknesses into His strengths.

Prayer: Imagine being there at that first Pentecost and seeing the Holy Spirit fall upon the Apostles. These were men who had a number of good qualities but who also were filled with weakness, pride, and cowardice. One by one, you see them become emboldened by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel without fear and become ideal witnesses to Jesus Christ. You see, for example, Peter who had denied Jesus three times now taking the lead in publically proclaiming Christ as Messiah and Lord. He is a changed man! Now if you knew the Holy Spirit were to come to you next, how might you envision your life being changed? If there were one area of personal weakness in your life that you think the Holy Spirit would want to transform the most, what would that be? Take a few moments in prayer to ask God about that. Resolution: Now talk to God about that one area of weakness and ask
Him how you can work on it this week. Make a particular resolution that would help you improve in this area of weakness and invite the Holy Spirit to give you His strength just as he strengthened Peter and the Apostles at Pentecost long ago. SAY: Use your journal to write down your thoughts, reflections, and resolutions.
(Allow five minutes to write in their journals in a time of silent prayer.)

Leaders Tip:

The Pentecost story in Acts 2 describes how the coming of the Holy Spirit changed the Apostles behavior, from timidity into an unaccustomed boldness. Encourage participants to ask God what area needs attention the most. From your short list of areas of personal weakness that youd like the Holy Spirit to transform, select one to work on each day this week.

Leaders Tip:

Encourage participants, especially beginners, to develop a resolution that is relatively easy to work on at first, rather than something that requires tremendous effort, such as breaking a long-standing addictive habit like smoking. (That can come later). It also may be helpful to offer some examples of resolutions: a resolve to avoid procrastinating, leaving messes for others to clean up, speaking critically about others, skipping a personal prayer time for trivial reasons, watching things on TV that one shouldnt, etc. Finally, encourage participants to seek the Holy Spirits help each day in these areas. The main point of this lesson on Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit dwells within us and helps us to do what we could not do on our own.

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STEPWRAP-UP #6 STUDY
SAY: I hope you take time each day to read and re-read this weeks Scripture readings, meditating and reflecting on the passages that speak to you. Your journals will give you prompts if you need some guidance. Lets close our time together today with prayer:

Father, your Son promised to send the Holy Spirit on the Apostles; and as you sent Him, He sent them to do what He did. To that end, the Spirit was poured out on the Apostles that first Pentecost day. And Peter said that day that the same Spirit and His gifts were available to all. Pour out on us the same Holy Spirit. Enable us to live the life of the Spirit that we received at Baptism. Be with us especially this coming week.
(Insert any personal needs that may have come to light this week)

Lord, You know how badly we need Your help, even in the ordinary conditions we face every day. We want to proclaim to ourselves and to others that Jesus is Lord, but we cant do even that without Your Holy Spirit. Pour out on us His grace and His gifts that, in any circumstance whether typical or extraordinary we might act with Your power and not on our own strength. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Your Journey into the Sunday Readings

Opening the Word helps you unpack the Sunday readings
and apply them to your everyday life in a profound way.
Three components of Opening the Word: Video Reflection A dynamic and engaging teacher illuminates the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. Personal Prayer Journal The journal brings home the Scriptures with practical application points for each day of the week. Leader Guide This guide equips leaders to facilitate small group discussions and lead prayerful reflections on the Sunday readings. Great for multiple uses: Adult Faith Formation Small Group Bible Studies Personal Prayer Devotion RCIA Dismissal Sessions
The RCIA Symbolon Opening the Word is an excellent and dynamic resource for parish Celebrations of the Word of God. The DVD video is dynamic and engaging, and the reflections truly help RCIA participants break open the Scripture readings and bring them alive in their daily life. The Leader Guide is a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool for the RCIA leader. This is truly one of the most beautiful, engaging, and user-friendly resources that I have seen! ~ Lucas Pollice, M.T.S. Director of Catechesis, Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth

You will be guided through the Sunday readings by

Tim Gray, Edward Sri, Jim Beckman, Mary Healy, Ben Akers, Father John Riley, Scott Powell, Julianna Miles

2012
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Leaders: Log on and connect with other Catholic leaders nationwide. Join our network of leaders just like you. Log on to www.OpeningtheWord.org today!