Read or listen to this Sunday’s Mass readings here.

• Acts 2:1-11
• 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Romans 8:8-27
• John 14:15-16, 23b-26 or John 20:19-23

The Pauline children woke up only to find their living room looking quite different.  Someone, during the night, had decorated the room with red and white billowy scarves.  A huge fan by the window blasted air full force through the room.  What was going on?

Mom and Dad appeared, decked out in red and white finery.  “Happy Birthday!” they greeted their family.

“Whose birthday is it?” they all asked.  And, if it was someone’s birthday,  Vincent wanted to know, where was the cake?

“It’s the birthday of the Church!” Dad answered them.  “Today is the feast of Pentecost when the Church received the Holy Spirit!”

“Our living room this morning is decorated to remind all of us of the driving wind and the red flames that brought the Holy Spirit,” Mom stated. 

“It’s getting pretty gusty in here!” Vincent laughed, as his hair swooped again and again into his eyes. 

“Well, the Holy Spirit came with POWER!” Dad laughed.  “And speaking of power, Mom and I have come up with a pretty powerful lesson for you this morning about our Gospel reading!”

Dad dashed into the other room and came out with a TV tray covered in mystery.  With a nod from Mom, he whisked off the covering.  On the tray was a large tape recorder with the rewind and play buttons highlighted with red stickers, an instruction manual, and a large flashlight. 

 “Now, kids, the challenge for this morning is to figure out four things from this tray that remind us of the Holy Spirit!  Everyone on board so far?” he chuckled.

“What!” Vincent piped in.  “These objects are going to teach us about the Holy Spirit?  How?”

“Well, the first thing to do is to listen to the clues!” Dad said.  “All the clues you need are in the Gospel reading for this morning!”

Dad began reading out loud from John, chapter 14.  ” ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, … Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me … The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.’ ”  (John 14:16, 23b-24, 26)

Vincent looked at his dad, then to the TV tray, then back to his dad.  “Okay, I give!” he said.  “You really have to explain this one to me!”

Mary Clare, Lucy, Hillary, and even Baby Ben shook their heads in agreement.  “We give, too!” Lucy sighed.

Dad smiled with delight.  “It’s really quite simple!” he chuckled.  You could tell he was having fun with this one.

“You see, first we have the flashlight!”  Dad told them as he turned it on.  “Our Scripture reading today says that God the Father will be sending an Advocate to the apostles to be with them forever.  Another name for advocate is counselor, or consoler, or illuminator.  Get it, illuminator?“ Dad laughed as the flashlight sparkled.

“Dad, that’s a real stretch,” Vincent giggled.  “Now, what’s with the instruction manual?”

Dad went on.  “Remember when the Gospel said that the Holy Spirit, or the Advocate, would teach you everything?  So, for our demonstration, we put out an instruction manual.  And what is our instruction manual for the Church, Lucy?”

“The Bible!” Lucy yelped. 

“Exactly!” Dad said.  “The Holy Spirit inspires and teaches us through the Bible.  It is the guide of all truth, and 1 Timothy 3:15 says the Church is the pillar of all truth!”

“Like the keeper of the words from today’s Scripture, right Dad?”  Mary Clare stated.  Her Dad nodded that she was right.

“Now to the tape recorder with the two highlighted buttons!” Vincent went on.  “I can’t wait to hear this one!”

“Yes, Vincent, a tape recorder!” Dad continued.  “Our Gospel reading for today says that all the words we hear Jesus say are the words of God the Father.  Jesus talks about keeping the words of the Father.  We turn on our internal tape recorders and listen to God speak to us through Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Pretty neat, huh?”

“But what about the rewind button, Daddy?” Lucy asked.  “Why did you put a red sticker on the rewind button?”

Dad smiled at his daughter.  “Remember, Lucy, when I read the Gospel just now? Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit would remind them of all the words He taught them.  In case the apostles forgot what Jesus said, the Holy Spirit would be their rewind button!”

“Cool!” Lucy exclaimed. 

“So now, Dear Family,” Mom began, her hair still being tossed by the big fan, “your dad and I are going to teach you a new word.  The new word is ‘RUAH’ which is the Hebrew word for wind.  Can you say it? … RUAH!”

“RUAH!”  they all answered back gustily.

“And this is how you are going to remember ‘RUAH’ and the Holy Spirit of today’s reading,” she went on.  ” ‘R’ is for REMIND and assist us, ‘U’ is for UNDERSTAND or illuminate, ‘A’ is for ADVOCATE or instructor, and ‘H’ is for HOLY SPIRIT.”

“RUAH!” they all cheered again.

“And Mom,” Vincent added, still being blown away by the forceful fan.  “If ‘RUAH’ means ‘wind,’ we better not forget to turn off the RUAH machine when we leave for Mass!”

“You are RUAH-right, Vincent!” Mom laughed. 

And the family, driven by the Spirit, headed off to church!

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