It is clear that we are not all born the same.  We look at people who have achieved great things and imagine that they must have been born with a better brain or more talent. We look at people who do extraordinary things and imagine they must possess greater depths than we possess. These extraordinary people must have greater courage, greater determination or a clearer vision than we have. Is it just possible that we are not getting the full picture?

It is clear that we are not all born the same, and it is also clear, that as human beings, however hard we work we will always come up against our own limitations. As human beings there will always be times when we are hindered by fear, doubts and inadequacies. It’s at times such as these that the   Holy Spirit can step in and fire our humble human efforts. When we allow ourselves to be led by the  Holy Spirit, great things are going to happen. Faith in the Spirit can’t help but move us in the right direction. People like Mother Teresa of Calcutta would never have put her success down solely to her own human endeavour. Any praise she might have received would have been sent straight back to God.

On this, the Church’s birthday, we share a very exciting link with those very first disciples. We are each given gifts and talents which we must share to best advantage. At Pentecost we are given tremendous insight into God’s plan. We were not all born the same but we are all given the same twenty four hours in a day. All we need to do to overcome our limitations is to ask the Holy Spirit to galvanise our human effort and involve us in Jesus’ saving deeds.