Image “The Ascension as seen from below” (1886-1894) by James Tissot. Illustration for The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, at the Brooklyn Museum.
If you have not read the introduction to these 7 reflections and practices for Easter, please see the Intro post about it here.
The reflection for the 1st week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 1st week of Easter is here
The reflection for the 2nd week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 2nd week of Easter is here
The reflection for the 3rd week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 3rd week of Easter is here
The reflection for the 4th week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 4th week of Easter is here
The reflection for the 5th week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 5th week of Easter is here
The reflection for the 6th week of Easter is here
The contemplative practice for the 6th week of Easter is here
Link here for Acts 1:12-14, 2:1-4 in the NRSVUE version of the bible.
Contemplative Practice for Easter Week 7
Please note there is a contemplative reflection to go with this weeks practice here
Sit in a quiet place. If you can, light a candle.
Let this simple flame become a sign of the living presence of God…
the quiet fire of resurrection…
the light that no darkness can overcome.
(pause)
Allow yourself to become still. Feel the weight of your body supported beneath you.
Notice your breathing… slowly entering… and leaving…
There is nowhere else you need to be.
Nothing you need to achieve.
Only this moment.
(pause… longer)
Gently become aware that you are being held in the presence of God.
Not a distant God…
but the God who breathes life…
the God who raises the dead…
the God who dwells within creation itself.
(pause)
And quietly pray in your heart:
Come, Holy Spirit.
(pause)
Again:
Come, Holy Spirit.
(pause… longer)
Now hear these words from the Acts of the Apostles:
“All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer…”
(pause)
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…”
(pause)
“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind…”
(pause)
“Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them…”
(pause)
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…”
(pause… longer)
Stay with these words.
Do not analyse them.
Simply let them rest within you.
(pause)
Imagine the disciples waiting together.
Waiting in uncertainty.
Waiting without clarity.
Waiting without knowing what comes next.
(pause)
Resurrection has already happened…
and yet something is still unfolding.
Something is still becoming alive within them.
(pause)
Notice that they do not rush ahead.
They do not try to force meaning.
They wait together in prayer.
(pause)
Perhaps this is where resurrection consciousness truly begins…
not in certainty…
but in openness…
not in control…
but in surrender…
(pause… longer)
Bring your attention now to your own life.
Where are you waiting?
(pause)
Where do you feel uncertain… unfinished… in-between?
(pause)
Do not try to fix anything.
Simply notice.
(pause… longer)
And gently pray:
Holy Spirit, meet me here.
(pause)
Stay in silence.
(pause… extended)
Now imagine yourself sitting among the disciples.
In the upper room.
Feel the stillness of the space.
The longing.
The uncertainty.
The fragile hope.
(pause)
And then suddenly… wind. Movement. Breath. The sound of something alive.
(pause)
Notice that Pentecost begins not with human effort… but with divine movement.
The Spirit comes.
Unexpectedly.
Freely.
Wildly.
(pause)
The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma.
It also means breath…
wind…
life itself.
(pause)
Become aware now of your own breathing.
Slowly breathing in…
and breathing out…
(pause)
Receive this breath as gift.
As Spirit.
As the life of God moving within you even now.
(pause… longer)
With each in-breath, quietly pray:
Come, Holy Spirit.
(pause)
With each out-breath:
Renew me.
(pause)
Continue gently for a few moments.
(pause… extended)
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
(pause)
Notice the fullness of that image.
Not a select few.
Not only the strong.
Not only the certain.
All of them.
Fearful people.
Fragile people.
Wounded people.
Filled with divine life.
(pause)
This is resurrection consciousness.
The awakening to the reality that the risen life of Christ is not simply outside us…
but within us.
Moving through us.
Transforming us.
(pause)
Thomas Merton wrote that resurrection is not merely an event we remember, but a new level of consciousness into which we are invited.
A way of seeing differently.
A way of being alive to the sacredness of all things.
(pause)
To live as resurrection people is to awaken from the illusion that we are separate from God…
separate from one another…
separate from creation.
(pause)
The Spirit dissolves those illusions.
The Spirit draws us into communion.
(pause)
Sit quietly now and simply become aware of being alive.
Your breathing.
Your heartbeat.
The sounds around you.
(pause)
Notice that life is moving everywhere.
Within you.
Around you.
Through creation itself.
(pause… longer)
And gently ask yourself:
What might it mean for me to truly live as a resurrection person?
(pause)
Not merely believing in resurrection…
but embodying it.
(pause)
What would it mean to live with deeper hope?
(pause)
To live with compassion rather than fear?
(pause)
To become more fully present?
(pause)
To trust that even in a wounded world…
new life is still emerging?
(pause… extended)
Notice whatever arises within you.
No judgement.
No pressure.
Only awareness.
(pause)
The fire of Pentecost is not destructive fire.
It is illuminating fire.
Transforming fire.
The fire of divine love.
(pause)
Imagine now a small flame burning gently within you.
Not dramatic.
Not overwhelming.
Quiet. Steady. Alive.
(pause)
Allow this flame to represent the life of the Spirit within you.
The life of Christ within you.
(pause)
And ask gently:
What needs to be awakened in me?
(pause)
What needs to come alive again?
(pause)
What fear needs to loosen its grip?
(pause)
What hope needs tending?
(pause… longer)
Rest with these questions.
(pause… extended)
Now hear again these words: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
(pause)
The Spirit does not remove them from the world.
The Spirit sends them into it.
Into complexity. Into uncertainty. Into human need.
But now they go differently. Alive. Awake.
Connected to the living presence of God.
(pause)
Resurrection consciousness is never private.
It always becomes love.
Compassion.
Justice.
Presence.
(pause)
To live as resurrection people is to become people who carry life into places of fear…
hope into places of despair…
peace into places of division.
(pause)
And this begins quietly.
In awareness.
In prayer.
In openness to the Spirit.
(pause)
As we come slowly toward a close…
return again to your breathing.
Breathing in…
and breathing out…
(pause)
Become aware once more of the candle flame, if you lit one.
A small but living light.
(pause)
And quietly pray:
Come, Holy Spirit.
(pause)
Awaken resurrection life within me.
(pause)
Teach me to live with courage…
(pause)
with compassion…
(pause)
with hope…
(pause)
and with love.
(pause)
Make me a bearer of your life in the world.
(pause… longer)
And now simply rest in silence for a final few moments.
(pause… extended silence)
Amen.
Pentecost is the flowering of resurrection. What began in the empty tomb becomes a living reality in a Spirit-filled community.
Resurrection is not only something that happened—it is something happening within us. We are invited to live as people of hope, love, and courage.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, awaken resurrection life in me.
Practice: Begin each day with, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and notice where life is emerging around you.
This journey does not end at Pentecost. Resurrection is not a single moment, but a way of life—a continual movement of dying and rising, of letting go and becoming new.
Christ is not behind us, but ahead of us, drawing us into life.
And even now, that life is unfolding within you.
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