Little things

I had kind of hoped to prepare a Pentecost Novena, but other priorities are calling. So I invite you to pay attention to the "little things" that often go unnoticed at Mass, especially the opening prayers this week. And all of next week. My favorite week of opening prayers, with each one calling confidently for the Gift of the Spirit. I like these prayers so much, I incorporated them into a Confirmation program I worked on ("Be Sealed").
Here in Chicago, we observe the Feast of the Ascension tomorrow. Moving this observance from its 40-days-past-Easter location on Thursday had to have been one of the least pastoral decisions ever made. Far from drawing more attention to the mystery this feast commemorates, it diminishes its significance in the popular mind! That is something I would love to see reversed, especially since there are still a number of very large dioceses that did not make the move. (Two years in a row I ended up missing the feast entirely because I was traveling between Chicago and Boston or New York during the Sixth Week of Easter.) Oh, well. May the grace of the Ascension be ours in superabundance!