“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained...” (John 20:23)
Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:
“Consider the person inspired by Jesus as the apostles were and who can be known by his fruits as someone who has received the Holy Spirit and become spiritual by being led by the Spirit as a son of God to do everything by reason. This person forgives whatever God forgives and retains sins that cannot be healed, serving God like the prophets by speaking not his own words but those of the divine will. So he, too, serves God, who alone has authority to forgive.” (On Prayer, 28.)
Reflections on the Gospel for Pentecost.
Reflections on the Gospel for Pentecost.
Collect
O God,
Who by the mystery of today’s great feast
sanctify your whole Church
in every people and nation,
pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit
across the face of the earth and,
with the divine grace that was at work
when the Gospel was first proclaimed,
fill now once more the hearts of believers.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Who by the mystery of today’s great feast
sanctify your whole Church
in every people and nation,
pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit
across the face of the earth and,
with the divine grace that was at work
when the Gospel was first proclaimed,
fill now once more the hearts of believers.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
