Come Holy Spirit, Come.
As I write this, I am wrapping up a three-week vacation in Mexico. This is the first time I’ve ever had the luxury of a three-week vacation in more than 52 years of working. So, getting older does have its advantages.
My sister and I discovered Cabo San Lucas, Mexico about 25 years ago and fell in love with it. So, we were enticed into buying a timeshare. Several years later we went on a timeshare presentation for a different resort, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (PBSB). Admittedly, in the early days we were on very, very limited funds and so we would go to timeshare presentations for all the free gifts they promised just for listening for 90 minutes, which always and inevitably turned out to be three hours. But we fell in love with Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (PBSB) and we bought a second timeshare here and sold our other one. We have been coming to PBSB, for over 20 years now. It is, as they say, “our happy place”, and we have come every year since 2005 and, more recently, a couple of times a year. Junior Warden Chris Stromee has also been here, so he can attest to the exceptional beauty of the place. We are at the tip of the Baja Peninsula where they advertise, “the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez”. You’re at land’s end and cannot go any further south or west.
One of the things I love most about the resort, though, is that it has its own chapel. It’s hard to believe that a place that is driven on selling timeshares and making a profit, would provide a place to worship; a place one might think would have limited appeal for vacationers and definitely NOT a profit center!
But Sunset Chapel is a treasure and I’ve been going to Church services here for quite a few years and I can attest that vacationers are devout churchgoers. In fact, these past couple of weeks, with the Ascension and Pentecost being major celebrations, extra chairs have had to be placed in the chapel courtyard and even beyond.
The priest is the same elderly man who has been presiding for years. As I see him growing older I pray that I will see his face for several more years. He conducts the service in both English and Spanish and the attendees are generally evenly split. To me, it’s miraculous to hear him do his homily in English and then repeat it again, from memory, in Spanish.
This past Sunday, he did the traditional liturgy for Pentecost. I paid close attention so that I could make sure I understood what he was saying in English tinged with the accent of his native language. A couple of things hit home. He read from the Book of Acts and reflected on how the disciples and apostles were gathered, likely behind closed doors for fear of the Jewish leaders (I hope I have that right). But, he said, when the Holy Spirit descended, the doors opened up and everyone there, many from other regions with different tongues, heard what the Holy Spirit was saying and heard it in their own language.
The priest said, “That’s what happens all around the world every Sunday. People of all languages hear the same message, but hear it in their own language, so they can understand what they are hearing.” I thought about how, back at Church of the Incarnation, everyone was hearing just what I was hearing over 2,400 miles away, and the people sitting across the aisle from me were hearing in Spanish and I was hearing in English. And the priest reminded us that this has happened, not just every Sunday in our present time, but over the millennia. Amazing! It’s another way of making me believe, “There must be something to this God thing”.
Something else that really struck me, was that he said “the doors were opened” and that “the Holy Spirit also opens the doors to our hearts and minds.” I love that and will carry it with me. I do think I know when the Holy Spirit speaks to me. Sometimes my heart and mind can be closed, but when they are opened, I can feel it and I know the Holy Spirit has been at work, making it happen.
Blessings,
Susan