Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: June 8, 2025

Pentecost

Scripture Text:  1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters: No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

In today’s second reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul stresses the gifts of the Spirit beginning with recognizing Jesus as Lord. The gifts are given to us for the benefit of not just the individual but rather the whole body and for the glory of the LORD. Paul’s conversion experience so marked Paul that his preaching frequently points to the workings of the Body of Christ.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Have I discerned my gifts? Am I using them for the benefit of others? Am I opening my mind and heart to the benefits for myself from the Spirit beginning with enlarging my faith and deepening my love for God and others?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, we come to You this day to offer our praise of You and to give You thanks for all that is and will be because of your great love. We thank You especially for the gift of your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation He won for us through His sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. He promised us that You would send the Spirit to us. And so we ask for the Spirit. We ask for the gifts the Spirit brings to us so that we might see You more clearly in our moments, so that we might love You more deeply now and always, and that we might serve You and one another lovingly through out our lives. We ask this in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spit, one LORD forever and ever. Amen.