Monday, June 1st, 2009
Daily Archive
Homilies for the Solemnity of Pentecost
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 01 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Homilies
The Holy Spirit came down from the throne of God,
and entered into the hearts of the apostles, alleluia.
It’s hard to improve upon these words of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Guided by the Spirit himself, the holy bishop came to understand well Christ’s purposes in giving his Spirit to the Church.
After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary for us to become sharers in the divine nature of the Word. We had to giv eup our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. This was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit.
It was most fitting that the sending of the Spirit and his descent upon us should take place after the departure of Christ our Savior. As long as Christ was with them in the flesh, it must have seemed to believers tha thtey possessed every blessing in him; but when the time came for him to ascend to his heavenly Father, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshiped him, and to dwell in our hearts through faith. Only by his own presence within us in this way could he give us confidence to cry out, Abba, Father, make it easy for us to grow in holiness and, through our possession of the all-powerful Spirit, fortify us invincibly against the wiles of the devil and the assaults of men.
[. . .]
Does this not show that the Spirit changes those in whim he comes to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives? With the Spirit within them it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely other-worldly in outlook, and for cowards to become men of great courage. There can be no doubt that this is what happened to the disciples. The strength they received from the Spirit enabled them to held firmly to the love of Christ, facing the violence of their persecutors unafraid. Very true, then, was our Savior’s saying that it was to their advantage for him to return to heaven: his return was the time appointed for the descent of the Holy Spirit. (Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10)
