Living WORD

Points for Reflection: I am sharing to my dear readers these stories which I have collected to help you reflect as the Universal Church celebrates the PENTECOST Sunday. Here they are:

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# 1. A giant television tower rises above the skyline of East Berlin. Just below the tip of the tower is a revolving restaurant.

Communist officials intended it to be a showpiece to the West. But instead, a fluke in design “, turned it into a giant embarrassment.

Whenever the sun hits the tower a certain way, the tower turns into a huge, shimmering cross.

Officials tried to repaint the tower to blot out the cross, but to no avail. (Mark Link, S. J.) ++++

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# 2. It’s found in Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War diary.

Lincoln writes: “Of all the forms of charity and benevolence seen in the crowded wards in the hospitals, those of some Catholic Sisters were the most efficient.

“I never knew whence they came or what was the name of their order. More lovely than anything I have ever seen in art … are the pictures of those modest sisters, going on their errands of mercy among the suffering and the dying.

“Gentle and womanly, yet with the courage of soldiers … they went from cot to cot. … They were veritable angels of mercy.”

It is this kind of witness that Pentecost invites each one of us to bear in whatever area of life we are working. It is this kind of witness that the Holy Spirit has empowered each one of us to give.

It is this kind of witness that you and I are called to by our baptism and confirmation. This is the Pentecost message for each one of us here. (Mark Link, S.J.) ++++

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# 3. When I spoke before the Indiana Retarded Children Association, I realized that the members of the audience were mostly parents of retarded children or teachers of retarded children and that they were very sensitive toward the treatment their children receive, so I included this piece of material for them:

“Ladies and gentlemen, over in Michigan we are beginning to integrate retarded children with the regular classes in our schools, and this happened in a newly-integrated sixth grade class recently. It was recess time and one of the students said to the other, “Come on, Theresa, let’s go. Don’t bother with Elizabeth, she’s retarded.”

And they left, and Elizabeth, who was retarded but not deaf, walked slowly up to the front of the classroom and said to her teacher, “Mrs. Browning, am I retarded?”

And Mrs. Browning smiled a loving smile and took Elizabeth by the hand and said, “Yes, Elizabeth, you are retarded.” She paused for just an instant and then she continued, “And Elizabeth, I am retarded and everyone is retarded, because God didn’t make any perfect people. But, Elizabeth, none are so retarded as those who could, but will not understand.” (Art Fetting, RETARDED CHILDREN)++++

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#4 Eye contact helps people in almost any walk. of life. Examples: Salvation Army “Santas” claim they almost always get a donation if they make eye contact with pedestrians. Salespeople who use eye contact with customers generate more and larger sales.

Hitchhikers stand a better chance of getting rides if they engage in eye contact with passing motorists. Managers and executives who use their eyes when talking with their staff, open communications. And parents often find eyes the most effective means of scolding children. (Study at U. of Utah, EYE CONTACT)++++

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“Ghost” comes from the Anglo Saxon “gast” which was also developed into “gust”, and that is what it means… a violent flurry of wind: the Ghost of Wind that will swing us ‘round to look on God, and then move in a different direction.

“Spirit” derives from the Latin “Spiritus”, the gentle breath of life that quietly fills our lungs with air continuously throughout life. There is need for both.

Modern liturgies seem to be phasing out “ghost”, which is a pity. There is something invigorating about the stark Anglo Saxon word, and something helpfully expressive. (Ken Sharpe)