Pastor Sullivan's Blog

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. For several weeks our Lord has been teaching us about the Holy Spirit. Today, ten days after Christ ascended into heaven and fifty days after our Lord rose alive from the dead, He fulfills His promise. The apostles were in one place when “ suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting .” It’s appropriate that the Spirit make such a sound at His arrival. The word “spirit” means breath or wind. He rushes upon the apostles with the audible sound of a mighty rushing wind. “ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ” The Spirit arrives in fire just as John the Baptist had foretold in Matthew 3:11, “ He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ” Jesus said in Luke 12:49, “ I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ” Today that fire is kindl...

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The catholic faith, that is, the common Christian faith as taught in the Scriptures, and taught by the Apostles is that we worship “ one God in Three Persons and Three Persons in one God .” Today the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Trinity, a day set aside to contemplate the mystery of the Trinity today and confess our common Christian faith in the words of the Athanasian Creed. But we shouldn’t think that Trinity Sunday is the only time we confess and worship the Triune God. We do so each Sunday. The historic worship of the church drips with Trinitarian praises all throughout the year. We sing the Gloria Patri, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As is was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.” We praise all three persons of the Godhead equally because the glory of the persons is coequal. The church’s prayers to the Father end “through Jesus Chris...

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. On this Sunday in between Christ’s ascension and Pentecost, our Lord teaches us about the Holy Spirit whom He promised to send. He also tells the apostles, and those who would believe the apostles’ testimony, why they would need the Holy Spirit. He calls the Spirit “ the Helper ” and “ the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father ,” teaching us who the Spirit is His work. First Christ calls the Spirit “ the Helper ,” though Helper is a bit weak of a translation. The word Jesus uses is Paraclete, which means comforter, though not like we often think of someone being a comforter. A Paraclete is an advocate, someone who comforts someone when they stand accused before a judge. This is what the Holy Spirit does in the hearts of believers when they are accused of their sins and unworthiness by Satan. In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called “ the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God d...