The New Wine Press vol 25 no 10 June 2017 | Page 6

Precious Blood Companions
by Vicky Otto, Precious Blood Companions Co-director
One of my favorite days in the Church year is the
Solemnity of Pentecost. As I thought about this arti-
cle, I was immediately drawn to the first reading from
the Acts of the Apostles that is read on Pentecost.
Remember that the community was gathered to-
gether in one place and heard a loud wind. Then the
tongues of fire descended upon them and they were
filled with the gift of the Spirit. At the end of the
reading St. Luke describes the many people from ev-
ery nation staying in Jerusalem, and when they heard
the voices of the apostles, they all “heard them speak-
ing in their own language.” As our world and our
Church changes, I can’t help but wonder if we need to
be open to more of these “Pentecost moments.”
I was blessed to experience a “Pentecost moment”
recently during a trip to St. Agnes Church in Los
Angeles. Fr. John Wolf and I went to celebrate with
the youth and young adult group who completed
their discernment process and were celebrating the
rite of welcome as they began their formation to
become Companions. This visit was powerful for
me because I realized how important it is to allow
ourselves to be open to people of different cultural
backgrounds as well as different generations. When
this happens, what amazing gifts one receives.
I realized sitting with these young people that I
didn’t speak “teen” and I certainly was well past the
“young adult” language as well. I didn’t speak “tech”
and only have a passing understanding of Spanish.
As we shared prayers and shared stories it became
apparent that even though we all “spoke different
languages,” when we spoke of our faith journeys and
the process of answering our call to become Precious
Blood Companions, we—like the crowds at the first
Pentecost—heard each other in our own language.
As the Companion Movement continues to grow
and move forward into the future, I have heard time
and time again that we need to invite young people.
I have also heard that there is a desire to expand our
circle to include people of different cultural tradi-
tions. Are we ready for our Pentecost moment? Are
we ready to embrace people who look, think, and
are different than we are? Are we ready to embrace
all that these Pentecost moments mean, namely, that
we need to be open to doing things differently than
we have ever done them? As Companions and as a
4 • The New Wine Press • June 2017