Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Wednesday of the seventh week of Easter, May 20th, 2026

Delivered by Novi and Keenan from the Parish of Saint Peter in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 20: 28-38; Rs psalm 68: 29-30.33-35a.35b-36c; John 17: 11b-19.SHARING THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Our meditation today has the theme: Sharing the Giftsof the Holy Spirit. There is a group of the Catholic youth who entered thechurch to do a prayer service. They were seven, four girls and three boys. Theywere all amazed by the decoration displayed beside the altar showing the sevenimages of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Each chose one gift of the Spirit whichmostly suitable to each one's personality, namely the gift of wisdom,understanding, advice, knowledge, piety, fortitude (strength), and fear of God.After praying for few moments, they returned home with joy. There was a good and noble intention from them as agroup of the Catholic youth and as individual Christians as well. They wantedto give testimony to other Catholic youths, so that they could bring all youngpeople around them to a good Christian fellowship in the Church. They also wantedto become apostles in the sharing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to theirother friends in their neighborhood. They believed that they would becomeuseful Christians if they shared the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why do we need to share the gifts of the Holy Spirit?There are several important reasons. The first reason is because God himselfhad shared His divine power with humans through the Son of God who became a manin Jesus Christ, then Jesus Himself sent His Spirit to us. God always sharesHimself through His everlasting love, and so we must also able to share thatlove. The main purpose of this sharing is to create unity. This is the core ofJesus' prayer which today's Gospel reading proclaims. A sharing of the gifts ofthe Spirit aims for unity and not for disunity. The second is because the Holy Spirit moves and makesthings work. He moved every person in the Early Church and then initiated theiractivities so that they did not remain silent or hid themselves from public.Saint Paul was sent by the risen Jesus and he was instructed to move from oneplace to another, because he must extend the presence of the Church in allcorners of the earth. We are also filled and moved by the Holy Spirit so thatwe can share the Good News to others. And the third reason is because the one Church that wehave is an inclusive Church. Jesus Christ had entrusted the great mission tothe Church which is to make all people and nations His disciples. So there isno other way to fulfill this except that every member of the Church has to moveout from his or her place and share the gifts of the Holy Spirit to otherpeople. The world might have a lot of things for making people's life nice andenjoyable, but it must be lacking in the love and mercy of the Lord which comesfrom the work of the Holy Spirit. It is truly a blessing for our world todayif the sharing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit really happens in us as amanifestation of the apostolic character of our Holy Church.Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Jesus Christ, in the moment of waitingthe coming of the Holy Spirit, we put our faith in You as our true teacher andLord. Strengthen us with Your blessing and love so that in this moment ofpreparation we will always focus with devotion and prayer. Glory to the Fatherand to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... In the name of the Father ...