Whit Monday is celebrated on the day after the Christian festival of Pentecost. It is a time to remember the Holy Spirit`s descent when the apostles of Jesus were empowered to spread the Gospel. It marks the end of the Easter season and it is a public holiday.
The public holiday commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible. The holiday is typically marked by church services, parades and is seen as an opportunity for people to celebrate their faith. It has its origins in the early history of the church.
Whit is considered one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar because it marks the birth of the church and the beginning of the spread of the Christian faith and the end of the Easter season.
There are many different ways people observe Whit Monday depending on your personal beliefs and traditions. Some people may choose to mark the holiday by attending church services while others may celebrate it in more secular ways. At the end of the day the most important thing is to find a way to observe it that is meaningful to you.
I will be spending it in my garden where I have a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus in a rose garden. The poet Dorothy Frances Gurney is remembered for her poem "God`s Garden" which has the lines:
:
"One is nearer God`s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth".
And that is where I shall be - and in further lines of the poem:
"So near to the peace of Heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren".
And in the evening I will be performing spoken word at an open mic event in the Black Country with friends of WCR FM who helped us stage the 3 day event in the Mander Centre for the 2023 Wolverhampton Literature Festival.
God's Garden
(After the poem by Dorothy Frances Gurney)
I found Him in a garden
The roses marked His way
With blood-drops where His hands had lain.
His tears were in the summer rain,
His radiance in new day:
He walks before me, waiting,
For blinded eyes to see
The broken, glorious Lord of All
Newly risen, to sinners He calls
And He beckons to me.
I found His robe of scarlet.
Halo shining on his hair;
In the garden, it was sunny then -
I knew He was calling to men
Risen from the tomb, waiting there.
