A prayer that priests and other religious pray in the cycle of our daily Liturgy of the Hours (or Office/Breviary) reads: “Lord, you renew the face of the earth announcing unforetold wonders.  Through a virgin, you brought forth new birth to our world; through your miracles, new power; through your suffering, new patience; in your resurrection, new hope; in your ascension, new majesty; and in your Pentecost, new life.”  This prayer accompanies me as I go about pastoral duties in Kansas City’s urban core not only linking us to the salvation story but inspiring us to let it continually unfold in our own times and circumstances.  In these final days of the Easter Season as we celebrate the Ascension and Pentecost feasts, I can almost touch the unforetold wonders by which we are renewed in Christ.

It helps that popes in recent years and sporadically throughout the last century have urged Christians to seek direction and clarity from Jesus’ acts of accompanying the poor and outcast more than from rubrics, dictates, or legislative decrees.  Those who espouse ways of walking with Christ and living in His Spirit grasp the prayer-centered new hope and new life that lies in our hands.  Because urban parishes tend to inculcate aspects of biblical justice, social compassion, mercy, and acceptance in more direct ways than others because of our proximity to material poverty, racial inequity, and cultural struggles, we are, perhaps, more comfortable with the promise of Pentecost’s transformational power.  

That power was enfleshed 2,000 years ago as timid and fearful disciples became courageous and undaunted.  They who knew Jesus well through His visible words, miracles, and prayerful submission to The Creator before the crucifixion came to know Him even better through His invisible Spirit after the resurrection.  At Saint James Parish (39^th and Harrison), some prayers and songs within our Sunday Mass are voiced in various languages.  It not only ties us to the events of Pentecost but also to the great number of immigrants that worship there.  Saint James is also linked to adjoining structures that offer discount clothing and household items to neighbors (Troost 39 Thrift), house low-income citizens (Oglesby Hotel), and feed hungry and houseless people (One City Café).  Last Sunday, as periodically occurs, the parish hosted a “Sunday-Funday” when children and families socialize after Mass with a meal and games.  Saint Therese Little Flower (STLF) and Saint Francis Xavier (SFX), each Sunday, read the names of those who were killed in our city streets over the past week to pray for them and their families, as well as for the perpetrators while raising greater awareness of gun violence and other crimes that plague our city.  SFX is an area leader in addressing Catholic Social Teachings important to faith and manifested in racism, immigration, poverty, and issues that assault the dignity of life.  We have members and associates across the metro area who join us in the transformational inertia of Pentecost throughout the year; if you’d like to participate, please contact Michael Samen at msanem@sfx-kc.org to learn more.  STLF is a key leader in offering direct services to people living in poverty.  There we provide a senior center that serves breakfast and lunch three days/week, along with exercise and games for elderly citizens; we also have a food pantry, and an emergency assistance center open five days/week.  On Sunday, June 22, after the 9:00 Mass, Sharon Sanders, kitchen director, along with local chef Thom Zoog, will provide a breakfast of thanksgiving for volunteers of our urban outreach ministries.

I cannot grasp the unforetold wonders that await us, but I know they will be tied to new birth, new power, new patience, new hope, new majesty, and new life.  I hope that you, as Pentecost People, might become part of it.