St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen
THE CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY COMMUNION (2)
24th May 2026 	Pentecost Sunday 

 Processional Hymn: 346 Angel voices 

 THE GREETING
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.                                     

THE COLLECT FOR PURITY
Almighty God, to Whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from Whom no secrets are hidden; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PENITENCE
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. 
Matthew 22: 37-39

Lord, have mercy on us,
and write these Your laws in our hearts.

God so loved the world that He gave his only Son Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins, to intercede for us in Heaven, and to bring us to eternal life. Let us then confess our sins in penitence and faith, firmly resolved to keep God's commandments and to live in love and peace:

Silence
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we have sinned in thought and word and deed, and in what we have left undone. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may walk in newness of life to the glory of Your name. Amen. 
THE ABSOLUTION

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS

The Collect of the Day - page 279 (191)
Almighty God, who on the day of Pentecost sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame, filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel: By the power of the same Spirit strengthen us to witness to your truth and to draw everyone to the fire of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Lesson: Acts 2: 1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

The Psalm: 104: 26-36 - page 712 (431)
26  O Lord, how manifold are your works! ♦
   In wisdom you have made them all;
      the earth is full of your creatures.
27  There is the sea, spread far and wide, ♦
   and there move creatures beyond number, both small and great.
28  There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan ♦
   which you have made to play in the deep.
29  All of these look to you ♦
   to give them their food in due season.
30  When you give it them, they gather it; ♦
   you open your hand and they are filled with good.
31  When you hide your face they are troubled; ♦
   when you take away their breath,
      they die and return again to the dust.
32  When you send forth your spirit, they are created, ♦
   and you renew the face of the earth.
33  May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; ♦
   may the Lord rejoice in his works;
34  He looks on the earth and it trembles; ♦
   he touches the mountains and they smoke.
35  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; ♦
   I will make music to my God while I have my being.
36  So shall my song please him ♦
   while I rejoice in the Lord.
.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-13
Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 

Hymn: 296 Come Holy Ghost

The Gospel: John 20: 19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ 

THE SERMON

THE NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from Heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen   

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
At the end of the Intercessions the following is said:
Merciful Father, accept these our prayers for the sake of Your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Offertory Hymn: 646 Glorious things of thee are spoken

THE PRAYER OF HUMBLE ACCESS
We do not presume to come to this Your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness but in Your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Your table. But You are the same Lord, Whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed through His most precious Blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us. Amen.

THE PEACE
The peace of the Lord be always with you. 
THE TAKING OF THE BREAD AND WINE

Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us therefore let us celebrate the feast. 
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord is here.    His Spirit is with us. 
Lift up your hearts.    We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.  It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Father, Almighty and Everliving God, at all times and in all places it is right to give You thanks and praise: 
And so with all Your people, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of Heaven, we proclaim Your great and glorious name, for ever praising You and singing:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and Earth are full of Your glory. 
Hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! 

Blessed are You, Father, The Creator and Sustainer of all things; You made us in Your own image, male and female You created us; even when we turned away from You, You never ceased to care for us, but in Your love and mercy You freed us from the slavery of sin, giving Your only begotten Son to become man and suffer death on the cross to redeem us; He made there the one complete and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world: He instituted, and in His holy Gospel commanded us to continue, a perpetual memory of His precious death until He comes again: On the night that He was betrayed He took bread; and when He had given thanks to You, He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body which is given for You. Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way, after supper He took the cup; and when He had given thanks to You, He gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of You, for this is my Blood of the new covenant which is shed for You and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. Therefore, Father, with this bread and this cup we do as Christ Your Son commanded:

We remember His passion and death, we celebrate His resurrection and ascension, and we look for the coming of His kingdom.

Accept through Him, our great High Priest, this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; and as we eat and drink these holy gifts, grant by the power of the life-giving Spirit that we may be made one in Your holy Church and partakers of the body and blood of Your Son, that He may dwell in us and we in Him: Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, by Whom, and with Whom, and in Whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours, Almighty Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

THE LORD'S PRAYER
The bread which we break is a sharing in the Body of Christ.                           
We being many are one body, for we all share in the one bread.

The gifts of God for the people of God.
Jesus Christ is holy
Jesus Christ is Lord
To the Glory of God the Father.

Or

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, Who has taken away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to His Supper.
Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed.

THE COMMUNION

Communion Hymns: 

The Post Communion Prayer - page 279 - (191)
Faithful God,
who fulfilled the promises of Easter
by sending us your Holy Spirit
and opening to every race and nation the way of life eternal:
Open our lips by your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Blessing 

Hymn: 303 Lord of the Church 

ANNOUNCEMENTS for Sunday 24th May
Macmillan Cancer Fund Raiser
Jessica Saunderson is raising money for Macmillan Cancer, by swimming 21 miles during June and July and would appreciate a donation.  The link is https://swimit.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/jessicas-swim-it-page? You can also donate on Facebook, Instagram or Tik Tok. 
Baby Loss Support Service
Saying Goodbye, (part of Mariposa International) are returning to Belfast with a very special baby loss remembrance and support service (part of a series of services held across UK, Ireland, and the USA).  
Mariposa International's core objective is to support people who have lost babies at any stage of pregnancy, at birth, or in infancy. Founded in 2012, by Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates, who saw a critical lack of support for people like them, who had gone through baby loss. With over 258,000 babies being lost yearly in the UK alone, the charity needed to be able to offer not only a comprehensive package of befriending and support but also national baby loss remembrance services (called Saying Goodbye Services), for people to join together and remember the children they have lost.  On 14th June at 3.30pm, St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast will be hosting one of these Saying Goodbye Services and is the most local service to Enniskillen this year. This service is for anyone who has either personally lost a baby at any stage of pregnancy, at birth, or in early years, or who has been affected by family members' or friends' loss.  Whether the loss was recent or 80 years ago, everyone is welcome to attend. They also gladly welcome anyone who is grieving the fact that they haven't had children, whatever the circumstance, all are welcome. Babies and children are also invited to come with their families, as the Saying Goodbye service is truly a family event for all.
To read more on the charity, please see the Saying Goodbye website, which you can find at: www.sayinggoodbye.org
Thursday 28th May 
11.00am - Holy Communion
Sunday 31st May - Trinity Sunday 
9.00am - Holy Communion 
11.00am - Morning Prayer with Holy Baptism