John 20:22

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Mary.

The sweetest sound I ever heard

was that morning You said my name, Lord,

that morning when I found You,

framed by the rising sun,

a silhouette that was more light

than shadow,

and I did not see You.

and I did not know You,

still lost in grief as I was.

But then You said my name,

and I ached with sweet love

and longing for You.

Thomas.

The sweetest sight I ever saw

was that day You sat across from me, Lord,

that day when all stories became true

and You leapt off the pages of fiction

and became more real than real.

The sweetest sight I ever saw

was You, Lord, once broken and now healed,

and Your love for us inscribed there

on Your hands, and there in Your side,

and there in Your eyes,

when You looked at me

and all I could see was love.

Peter.

The sweetest kiss, I ever felt,

was Your kiss, Lord.

It was a mother’s kiss, a brush of the lips

across the forehead,

a prayer for a good night,

a promise that we’ll see each

other again in the morning.

Your kiss, Lord, was the sweetest kiss,

and the Holy Spirit, the sweetest gift,

a gift unearned, a gift not to be wasted,

a gift that grows as we grow,

and transforms us in unimaginable ways.

Your kiss, Lord is that sweet

Breath of the Spirit.

Oh how I need to be filled with Your spirit, Lord.

Oh how I need to breathe in that sweet breath of Heaven.

Oh how I need You, Lord.

Amen.