Today is a great day. Today we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the Church. Everything performed in the Church is performed in the Holy Spirit. And for us to receive the Holy Spirit, it was necessary for the Lord to be glorified; and the Lord’s glory is the Cross, death, and his voluntary passion.
That being the case it is mystifying how we –the Christians of today –are unable to be initiated into the mystical communion with the Holy Spirit. Looking back to the years of the persecutions, Christians were consumed by the question of who would be martyred first? Who would become an offering? Who would get to die for Christ? And from his suffering would arrive at the Resurrection to stand beside Him. And yet today, because we do not have the fear of God, because within ourselves we hold conceit, egotism, and selfishness, we are frightened before the pain of the Cross, before death. In this way, we make ourselves incapable of tasting the fruit of the Holy Spirit within our souls. We do not thirst after the water of God, the water that quenches the soul, and therefore remain forever in thirst. Despite this, God waits for each and every one of his creatures –to give him His grace, to give him the Holy Spirit. And just how much grace God gives depends on how receptive we are to receiving the Holy Spirit; and it is enough that we desire this.
Therefore, seeing our good disposition, God will light this fire within us, and we will live in the Holy Spirit. We will live our lives, finish our lives, in the Holy Spirit; and this will make us able to dwell eternally in the Holy Spirit.
Holy Hesychasterion “The Nativity of Theotokos” Publications.
Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos
Sunday of Pentecost.How receptive are we to receiving the Holy Spirit?
