In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost.
Today we are keeping the Feast of the Holy Spirit.
What do we know about Him? We heard wonderful words of prayer about Him
yesterday on Trinity Sunday, but let us think of Him, of the name He is
given in the Gospel, which is translated ‘The Comforter’ in English, in
other translations ‘The Advocate’. He is the One Who is the Comforter
indeed, the One Who consoles us for our separation from Christ, Who
consoles us who are like orphans, who long to be with Christ our God,
our Saviour, and who know that as long as we are in the flesh - and
these are the words of St. Paul - we are separated from Him. But for Him
to be our Comforter, to be our consolation, we must first be aware of
the fact that we are separated and this is the first question we must
ask ourselves: are we aware of it, or do we live in the delusion that we
are in God and God in us, and that nothing more is needed? How much more
is needed!
He is also the One Who, as the Comforter, gives us
strength, strength to live despite the separation, strength to stand
fast and to be the doers of the Will, the fulfillers of the Commandments
of God, the One Who can give us vigour of soul, determination, power to
act. But this, again, only if we turn to Him and say, Come! Come and
abide in us! Cleanse us! Be not only our Comforter but our strength
also.
Lastly, He is the One Who gives us, already now, the
joy of knowing how close we are despite what seems to be an infinite
distance between God and us, the One Who, in unutterable groanings,
speaks to God from the depths of our being; the One Who, because we are
Christ's own people, His brothers and sisters in humanity - and these
are His own words - that we are the children of the Father. The joy of
this, the wonder of this, the dignity of this! Indeed also, the
responsibility of this...
If we think of our world which is to such a great
extent alien to God, the Spirit is already the beginning of eternal
life. His presence is a decisive fact. He beats against the rocks like
the sea, He breaks resistances. He is the joy of eternity knocking at
our door, forcing Himself into our lives, reminding us of God our
Father, of Christ our Saviour and of our greatness and dignity before
God, showing us that all things are possible in the power of Christ Who
sustains us.
Let us therefore responsibly and gratefully keep this
Feast. And may the Spirit of God Who came in tongues of fire upon the
Apostles, come to us also - perhaps like a fire that sets us aglow and
makes us like a Burning Bush, or touches us like the still, small voice
which the Prophet heard in the wilderness in which God was, in His quiet
humility, in His surrender to us, in His love for us.
Amen.
