“Receive
the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive
are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
“Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to
paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given
confidence to call God our Father and to share in Christ's grace, called
children of light and given a share in eternal glory (St. Basil).”
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down
visibly on the Apostles. He gave them the power to speak in strange tongues to
the crowds that came to Jerusalem for that Feast. He also transformed them,
from selfish and timid men into giants of courage and faith. He makes holy the souls of the just by His
presence. But a Spirit is not present in
the sense of taking up space. We say a
Spirit is present wherever it causes an effect.
In the soul, the Holy Spirit transforms it,
making it basically capable of taking in, after death, the infinite streams of
knowledge and love that flow within the Holy Trinity. Thus we are really "sharers in the
divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). This is a dignity so great that any earthly
honor is insignificant beside it.
There is no gift of God more excellent than
this, and there is no greater gift of God than the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came to remain with the
Church forever. This is the promise of
Jesus Himself. He dwells in the Church
permanently and unfailingly, performing in it without ceasing, His action of
life-giving and sanctification.
May we confidently and continually beg of
Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light, inflame us with His
charity and inspire us with faith and love.
Receive Him and let the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts, forever.
Let us pray+
Grant, O merciful Father, that Thy Divine
Spirit may enlighten, inflame and purify us, that He may penetrate us with His
heavenly dew and make us fruitful in good works, through Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Amen +
Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment