A Pentecost Vigil for Global Times

With a global pandemic occupying our thoughts, this Easter season has not exactly felt like Easter. But we will celebrate Pentecost this Sunday. How appropriate it is to pray together, “Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the Earth.”

While churches are starting to open in some places, most of us will be unable to celebrate Pentecost in person. We will remain at home, but we are not alone. Instead, the global Ignatian family will celebrate Pentecost together through an online prayer vigil.

We have never attempted something like this before. There are logistical challenges. How do you have a vigil the night before Pentecost when “night” in one part of the globe is “day” elsewhere? The Ignatian family is in nearly every time zone! We have decided to stream the vigil at three moments: 8:00 PM in Manila, 8:00 PM in Rome, and 8:00 PM in New York.

The Jesuit General Curia will stream the vigil on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The content for the vigil will be the same each time, but there will be a live conversation and sharing of prayer intentions on social media during the vigil.

Our organizing team includes thirteen people from eight different countries. I have worked most closely with Jesuits in Spain and the Philippines. There’s a narrow window of time when one of us is not sleeping!

Still, it has been amazing to see it all come together as Jesuit Network. James Hanvey of the Secretariat for the Service of Faith has been our feet on the ground at the Jesuit Curia in Rome. Musicians from a dozen countries are collaborating on a version of “Veni Sancte Spiritus.”

I wanted to create short videos to promote the event. I scrolled through my contacts on WhatsApp and Instagram and asked Jesuits around the world if they could contribute.

Pardon the analogy, but communication spread like a virus. Jesuits contacted lay collaborators. My phone was soon buzzing with contributions in a wide variety of languages. I received far more material than I could use to create videos in both English and Spanish.

Please join us for the vigil this Saturday night. Bring your prayer intentions and a candle. You can find more information at pentecost.jesuits.global. The vigil will be streamed on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

With more than 15,000 Jesuits and countless lay collaborators, the Ignatian family spans the globe in beautiful diversity. How appropriate, then, that this family will pray together for Pentecost — when people from many nations and languages were united in prayer.The Ignatian family stands together — for the greater glory of God — as we welcome the Holy Spirit. Veni sancte Spiritus!