The Parable of the Whispering Father

 

Readings 052426-Vigil - Readings 052426-Day

Blessed be God,
and praise be to Jesus Christ,
forever and ever. Amen.

On this Pentecost Sunday we pray:
Come, Holy Spirit.
Fill us with joy.
Set our hearts ablaze with Your presence.

There was once a father
who understood his children
even before they could speak.
Their words were tangled,
their sentences half‑formed—
but he knew the meaning
beneath the babble,
the heart beneath the sound.

Years passed.
The children grew clearer—
and the father grew older.
One day he found himself saying,
“Say that again.”
Hearing took effort.
Understanding took intention.

And he realized something:
When love is young, we speak to be heard.
When love matures, we listen to understand.

This is Pentecost.
Because we, the children of God,
have grown noisy.
We speak in many tongues—
not tongues of nations—
but the tongues of opinion, division, argument,
and self‑made truth.

Christians of every kind
babbling our own little languages
as if the Church were a playground
and every voice must win.
We have built our own Babel—
and Babel always divides.

But Pentecost begins
where Babel ends.

The disciples were gathered
in one place, one heart, one prayer.
And the Spirit came like fire—
not to scatter but to gather,
not to confuse but to clarify.
Each person heard one message
in the language of their heart.

Pentecost is not many truths.
Pentecost is one truth
spoken clearly to many people.

And once the truth is heard,
the question rises:
What will we do with it?

The psalm pleads:
“Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.”
Renewal begins
when we stop controlling the message
and let the Spirit breathe.

Children babble to be heard.
Adults listen to understand.
Pentecost invites us
to grow up in the Spirit.

Paul shows us the Body—
many gifts, one Spirit.
But even a holy Body
cannot live without breath.
So Jesus steps into the locked room
of our fear and says,
“Peace be with you.”
Then He breathes—
and the Church becomes alive.

The father in the parable
learned this in his old age:
His children no longer needed to shout.
They needed to listen.
And so do we.

When we cling to our version of Christ
or our version of Church,
we shrink the Body to our size.
The Spirit expands the Body
to God’s size.

Pentecost is God saying:
“Stop babbling.
Start listening.
My Spirit speaks one truth—
the truth that makes you
one Body, one people, one Church.”

So today, be good and be holy
by letting the Spirit quiet your noise
and open your ears.
Let Him teach you again
like a child learning to speak—
not babbling nonsense,
but proclaiming the mighty works of God
by the way you live,
love,
and forgive.

Come, Holy Spirit.
Renew Your Church.
Renew our hearts.
Renew the face of the earth.

Praise be to Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer 

Holy Spirit, 

Come and quiet my restless heart.
Melt what is frozen and warm what has grown cold.
Bend what is stubborn and lift what is weary.
Steady my steps when I wander from Your peace.
Teach me to listen before I speak.
Teach me to love before I judge.

Amen

You Follow Me

 

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This week, I buried three men.
Twenty years between the youngest and the oldest.
Different stories.
Different struggles.
Different ways of walking with Christ.
And in three different ways,
God called each one home.

At every graveside,
I kept hearing Jesus’ words to Peter at the end of John’s Gospel—
when Peter looks at another disciple and asks,
“Lord, what about him?”
And Jesus answers,
“What concern is it of yours?
You follow Me.”

Three men.
Three journeys.
Three endings.
And yet one Lord—
one mercy,
one promise,
one open door into the Father’s house.

Their paths were not the same.
Their faith did not look the same.
Their deaths did not come the same.
But Christ was the constant—
the One who walked beside them,
the One who waited for them,
the One who now holds them
in the communion of saints.

And His word to us today is simple and steady:
Do not compare your path.
Do not measure your story against another.
You follow Me.

Because every life—young or old—
finds its meaning, its dignity,
and its final rest
in the One who calls us home.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Steady my steps in Your light.
Teach my heart to trust Your timing.
Gather my worries into Your wounded hands.
Let Your Spirit breathe courage into my day.
Fix my eyes on the hope of Your Kingdom.
And lead me home, one faithful step at a time. 

Amen

Do You Love Me?

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I go back to that young man in the grocery store I spoke about yesterday —
that simple moment—
when he said,
“Deacon… I need to speak to you.
There is so much going on.”

He had never been a person of faith.
But right there, in the checkout line,
God was making Himself known.

And that’s how grace works.
Quiet.
Ordinary.
Unexpected.
Like a small seed
dropped into the soil
of a tired heart.

Every day,
to every one of us,
Jesus still asks the same question
He once asked Peter on the shore:

“Do you love Me.”

Not to shame us.
Not to measure us.
But to call us home—
whether it’s our first step toward Him
or a return after a season
of half‑hearted living.

Because we are weak.
We are selfish.
We fall short.
Yet we are deeply loved by God.

And that love invites us
to live with intention—
to let every thought,
every word,
every action
lean toward Christ.

For unless we learn to see God
in the daily rhythms of our lives—
in the work we do,
the people we meet,
the interruptions we didn’t plan—
our hearts will drift into discontent
no matter where we turn.

But when we look for Him—
truly look—
we find Him everywhere.
And life steadies again.

So today,
let His question rest gently on your soul:
“Do you love me?”
Let it shape your purpose,
purify your intention,
and draw you back
into the heart of God.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,
plant Your love deep within my heart.
Steady my steps when I grow weary or distracted.
Teach me to see You in the ordinary moments of my day.
Shape my intentions toward Your holy purpose.
And draw me home to Your heart again.

Amen

God Steps Closer

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A young man stopped me in the grocery store.
“Deacon… I need to speak to you about my faith. There is so much going on.”

He has never been a person of faith.
But now—
in the ordinary,
in the everyday—
God is making Himself known.

He told me, “These things don’t make sense.”
And of course they don’t.
He is trying to understand the infinite with a finite mind.
Trying to grasp a God who cannot be grasped.
And yet—God is asking him to trust.
To take one step.
To learn what faith truly is.

And here is the truth I shared with him:

Even when God’s people fracture, argue, or fail to understand,
God does not step back.
He steps closer.
Division does not weaken His fidelity.
It reveals it.

When the world divides,
when the Church strains,
when families fracture,
when hearts break—
God does not abandon His people.
He draws near.
He holds our lot.
He steadies our steps.
He remains faithful in every division.
And because He remains faithful,
we can remain hopeful.

Unity is not something we manufacture.
It is something we receive from the God who remains faithful.

May we trust the God who steps closer—
even when nothing makes sense.

Prayer

Lord Jesus

Draw near when my understanding falls short.
Hold my heart when the world feels divided.
Steady my steps when faith feels too large to grasp.
Let Your nearness be my courage and my peace.
Teach me to trust the God who never steps back.
Make me faithful, because You are always faithful.

Amen

The Only Salvation

 

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Some chase salvation in ideas, science, and technology—
hoping human brilliance can heal what is broken inside.

Some chase salvation in riches, possessions, and power—
believing that enough control will quiet the ache of the soul.

Some chase salvation in leaders, ideologies, and government—
trusting that the right system will finally make the world whole.

Some chase salvation in the self—
through pride, self‑invention, or sin dressed up as freedom.

Because every human heart reaches for something
that promises rescue, meaning, or peace.
But not every promise can save.

But, only one Name heals the wound of sin.
Only one Love conquers death.
Only one Lord kneels beside us,
prays for us,
and gives Himself for us.

There is no salvation for man except Jesus Christ.

Even now, Christ kneels for you.
Even now, He intercedes for His Church.
Even now, He consecrates your life with His own.

And He prays:

“Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
(John 17:17–19)

You are not saved by ideas.
  You are not saved by the shifting winds of culture.

  You are not saved by effort.

You are saved by a Person—
the One who prays for you,
the One who sends you,
the One who consecrates you in truth.

Today, let your heart rest in the only Name that saves.
Let His Word shape your steps.
Let His prayer steady your spirit.
Let His truth make you holy.

And walk into the world knowing this:
You belong to the One who kneels for you.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Draw my heart away 

from every false salvation.
Set me deep inside the truth 

that makes me free.
Let Your Word steady me 

when the world pulls hard.
Let Your love heal 

what I cannot fix alone.
Keep me close to the One 

who kneels and prays for me.
Make me holy 

in the grace of Your salvation.

Amen