Pentecost Reflection 2026

Pentecost 2026: A Short Reflection

2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:1-4

A long time ago now, I once wrote a song for the Centre Pentecost Service. It was a catchy little thing:

Fire’s falling from heaven
Oh send the fire, oh send the fire;
Fire’s falling from heaven
Oh, send the fire to me.

It was what Eastern  streams might call a “guru song” - one that exalts the teacher:

Fire has fallen on Mario
Oh, send the fire, oh, send the fire
Fire has fallen on Mario,
Oh, send the fire to me.

Then back to the chorus “Fire’s falling from heaven …” Well, you get the idea …

Mario was furious.

“The gift of Pentecost was given once, and once only,” he informed me. “If the fire hasn’t fallen for you already - it’s too late now!”

The gift of individuality, the gift of the “Holy Spirit” is given once, for all time. The story of why this gift needed to be given at this time and this place is a long one, and has been told elsewhere by many people including of course, Rudolf Steiner and Rev Mario Schoenmaker.

Over the years I have spent on this planet, one thing that has become very clear to me is the incredible sacredness of this gift. Sometimes in a Spiritual Reading I say to the person, that the Real Self, the individuality, is so sacred that it is hidden from the sight of even the most gifted, perceptive clairvoyant. It is the uniqueness of that person, and no one else, not even the highest of the spiritual hierarchy, can encroach upon this uniqueness.

This, by the way, is why you can’t do a Tarot Reading or any other type of Reading for a person without their consent. I sometimes see even individuals who have been trained extensively in spiritual knowledge, make oracular pronouncements about others. They confidently proclaim that such and such a person was Cleopatra or King Tut in a previous life - without ever asking this person for permission. I have seen incredible judgments made about personal spiritual values like the level of initiation someone else has reached; and about the karma that has created an illness or physical condition. It is all nonsense. No one else can say anything about you that is real, without your permission. That is why when I do a Spiritual Reading, the person has to freely give their permission for the Reading. Mario said to me once, “If you want to develop your clairvoyance, charge for it!” 

So the gift of Pentecost is the ‘pearl of great price’ for which we spend our whole life searching, only to find it within our own heart.

This year I noticed one episode in particular on the ‘Path to Pentecost’ and that is, that Christ disappears. He spends the first forty days with the disciples, and then suddenly, leaves them and rises into heaven! How incredibly disappointed the disciples must have been. How they must have mourned this second death. 

They could have gone around beating their breasts, proclaiming loudly, “Woe is me!” and quoting Jesus right left and centre. But they didn’t. Instead they got together - and … they prayed.

Many of us have had someone we looked to as a Spiritual Teacher. This may be in the flesh as it was for us with Mario, or it may be a great soul, like Rudolf Steiner, who still exerts an influence from the spiritual worlds. This is good, in fact to meet one’s spiritual teacher is an amazingly rare occurrence they may take thousands of lifetimes to happen. But then, it has to stop. If the Spiritual Teacher is like Christ, then he/she will remove themselves from you. What are you going to do? Are we going to spend our precious time bemoaning the ‘good old days’ and the incredible wisdom we witnessed? Perhaps we’ll form study groups and listen to their words or read their books. Nothing wrong with this - but… it means that we will never receive the fullness of our own individuality - and that would be such a tragedy for the Teacher - whose only purpose for us was to guide into our own, precious unique Self.

There is a Zen saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” 

If you know how revered the Buddha is, you will see this is an absolutely shocking, transgressive statement. But it has to happen. The image and the mental construct we have developed about the Teacher and the  teachings given - has to be shattered. The disciples were completely shattered when Christ left them for a second time. But they did the one thing they could, to create a new connection with the spiritual worlds - they prayed!

There comes a time in our life when all the wonderful spiritual, occult, esoteric teachings become a hindrance. They are like a dirty window between us and the divine. We should clean the window - that is what prayer and devotion do. The I AM is simple. When we have the experience of Christ manifesting to us, everything becomes so clear. Mario during a Centre Reading had Christ appear to him. Tears rolled down his face and he said to us, “It is so simple… sooo simple…”

I wish that simplicity for all of us at this time so that we have once again an opportunity to sever ties with the old self, and discover the rose within the heart - the True Self, the Divine Self, The Individuality, the Christ within.

JR