Father Preca was born in Malta, in 1880. Early in the 20th Century, as a young priest, he founded the Society of Christian Doctrine to train catechists. In 1957 the Society celebrated the 50th anniversary of its foundation, and many of Father Preca’s supports urged him to plan festivities to mark the event. Father Preca refused to support an elaborate celebration - “it is enough,” he said “to sing the Te Deum as a thanksgiving” - but he wrote a number of short spiritual works, which he hoped would foster deeper intimacy with God among the Society’s members.

Among these brief works were reflections on five events or aspects of Jesus’ public ministry: his Baptism and subsequent temptation, the miracles that revealed Jesus as true God, the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, and the Last Supper. He presented these to his followers as five additional points of meditation when praying the Rosary. Each of these “mysteries” was to be accompanied by a brief, but suitable, time of reflection.

Although members of Father Preca’s Society of Christian Doctrine surmise that Pope John Paull II initially learned of the future saint’s devotion by means of the Internet or some other means of the mass communication, we may never know the extent to which Father Preca’s work influenced Pope John Paul as he wrote Rosarium Virginis Mariae. What is clear, however, is a deep correspondence between the language of the encyclical letter, and phrases crafted by Father Preca.

Father Preca died in 1962, so had no knowledge of what he may have helped inspire. However, one of his associates has said,

Had Fr. Preca been around [in 2002], he would have rejoiced enormously. He would have made the Pope’s message his own, and would have encouraged us all to sing to Mary ‘Rejoice, for I have found great favor woth the Lord!’ Fr. Preca would have emphatically passed on these pressing words of the Holy Father through the Rosary, ‘Mary helps us to learn the secret of Christian joy, reminding us Christianity is, above all … good news - which has its center, indeed its very content, in the person of Christ.”

by Father Reginald E. Martin, O.P.
Director, The Rosary Confraternity

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-from Interior Prayer: Carthusian Novice Conferences, Chapter 26, “Transforming Union,” p. 178.

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Deus, qui perfecte ambulantium coram te praesidium es et merces magna nimis,
perfice, quaesumus, in nobis sanctae religionis affectum, ut, beatorum
abbatum Cluniacensium exemplo et intercessione, viam caritatis dilatato
corde curramus. Per Dominum…

English:

Lord our God, you are the shield and glorious reward of those who walk blamelessly before you. Keep us steadfast in your holy service so that, by the example and intercession of the blessed abbots of Cluny, we may with open hearts run the path of perfect charity. Through Jesus Christ.

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We could also prepare to celebrate Pentecost by going for a long walk and experience God
in His creation . We can walk alone with nature , alone with the birds , and breath in the breath of life.
Then we will find peace in our hearts .

In that peace we will find the deepest love.Whatever our beliefs , and whatever vocation we are following we can all
agree this world needs true , unconditional love .

Love that is not possessive is needed . A love that gives unconditionally , not so much in material things , but gives itself
totally . This love gives itself in ways of compassion , tenderness, gentleness , warmth , and friendship. It is this love that
God gives through the Holy Spirit that makes us sons and daughters of God and unites us to make us the church of God .

The greatest way we can prepare to celebrate Pentecost 2008 is by renunciation . We can let go of all things that divide and
separate us . We can forgive each other any wrong we may have done . We can stop focusing on ourselves so much and celebrate
the gifts of creation around us .We can notice the wind that blows .I like to think the wind is the Holy Spirit moving over the earth .
We can notice the sunshine and warmth of Gods unconditional love for us . If it rains we can remember how God wants to soak us in His
love . The stillness of the night to come and our Vigils can remind us we were created by God and not man , and our deepest lasting peace will only be found on God .

This Pentecost may we be filled with life anew by noticing what God has already given us and was there all the time .

Brother Richard- Bruno O.F.C — Poor Clare Guardian .

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O my God, my only happiness—how can I come to know you more perfectly? I see your creatures and I am enchanted; I give thanks and I love you, but these do not suffice for me, as you know so well; but I do not see or hear you. I desire to become like you according to your will, but how? You are most pure Spirit, and I am flesh. Make known to me how I, a person of flesh, must perfect myself and become like you, most Holy Spirit, to be raised to the divine life.

Scripture:

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2:1-4  

Reading:

The Third Person of the Holy Trinity has a part in this work: it is he who transforms men’s souls into temples, souls won by the redemption of Christ, adopted children of God; he makes us heirs of the heavenly kingdom, as St. Paul says: “you are washed and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” It pertains to the Holy Spirit until the end of the world to form the new members of the Mystical Body of Christ’s predestined (from “The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Mediation of All Graces,” in Miles Immaculatae, a Latin quarterly for priests by Maximilian Kolbe, 1938 ). 

Reflection: Do I seek the Spirit’s many gifts to be a more effective evangelist in order to bring about the conversion and sanctification of others? 

Novena Prayer

Father of light and of love,
from whom every good gift
comes, send forth the power
of your Spirit into our lives to
renew the Church in our year of
evangelization. Open our minds
and hearts, and fi ll us with the
virtues of faith, hope and charity.
Loosen our tongues to sing
your praises and to proclaim the
Gospel of Salvation to all. Use
us as bold instruments of the
New Evangelization. Help us to
realize that without your Spirit
we could never bring peace
and reconciliation to our broken
world nor announce the truth
that Jesus Christ is Lord. We ask
all these things in Jesus’ name,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God,
forever and ever.

Amen

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