This month we celebrate the Ascension of
our Lord Jesus Christ on May 17. After Christ rose from the dead, He revealed Himself
and spent time with those He loved, such as His mother Mary, His disciples, Paul,
James, and was seen by “more than 500
brothers and sisters at one time” (1 Corinthians 15:6). Forty days after
Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples watched as Christ “was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of
their sight” (Acts 1:9).
Before Jesus ascended to heaven,
He instructed the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you” (Acts 1:8). Fifty days after Christ rose from the dead,
the disciples gathered together and “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent
wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided
tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:2-4). The crowd that gathered were
astonished and asked one another, “how is it that we hear, each of us, in our
own native language?” (Acts 2:8). After the disciples spoke, the
crowd was so moved that those present were “cut
to the heart” and 3,000 of them were baptized.
The day of Pentecost, to be celebrated
this year on May 27, was the birth of Christ’s church, and even to this day,
the followers of Jesus receive the Holy Spirit within them to guide them,
comfort them and be with them always. However, Christians do not always
appreciate or understand who lives within them. The Holy Spirit is God, one
part of the Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit that speaks to us and allows us to
know God. It is the Holy Spirit that operates within us to guard us from evil
and protect us. It is the Holy Spirit, who slowly removes the veil of ignorance
from our minds and hearts. God’s love for us is revealed by Him and works
through us. The Holy Spirit within us makes God real to us, increases our faith
and strengthens us.
According to St. Seraphim of
Sarov (2018), “the true aim of the Christian life consists of the acquisition
of the Holy Spirit of God…only good deeds done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits
of the Holy Spirit.” St. Seraphim rightly places the focus of good works on our
motivation because good works done for self-interest’s sake are not worthy of a
true Christian, nor do they benefit us in what he calls “the work of our
salvation.” The virtuous deeds for Christ’s sake require sacrifice. It is when
it is difficult to act in love that our works bear the fruits of the Spirit, acting
in genuine humility, setting aside our pride and doing what we would rather not
do. As Christ taught in Matthew 5:38-43, it is when one strikes you on the cheek
and you turn to him your other cheek. It is when someone sues you for your
shirt and you give him your coat, as well. It is when someone forces you to
walk with him one mile and you choose to walk with him a second mile. When your
enemies hate you, you show them love. These are examples of what it means to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow
me” (Matthew 16:24). Denying yourself requires a sacrifice for Christ’s sake,
which may cause suffering or may challenge our weaknesses.
What are the rewards of
acquiring the Holy Spirit? Firstly, Christ will not say to us “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23). It is easy to deceive ourselves that
we are worthy when we compare ourselves to one another, rather than comparing
ourselves to Christ. The greatest quality we can strive toward is genuine humility.
When we perform good works in humility for Christ’s sake, we will experience
the fruits of the Holy Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These are the fruits that
transform us, that create in us the attributes of Christ. As we acquire the
Holy Spirit, we become more Christ-like.
In this life, God has placed a
veil over our hearts and minds to conceal the spiritual reality of God’s dimension
of existence. God’s truth is veiled from our understanding, unless we are baptized
in the Holy Spirit and become faithful followers of Christ. As we mature in our
Christian faith, that veil is removed. “Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now
the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as
in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). In other words, the veil is removed as we
are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image or likeness of Christ, little
by little or from “glory to glory.” This
is what St. Seraphim meant by acquiring the Holy Spirit, who is the grace of
God.
St.
Seraphim compared the acquisition of the Holy Spirit to obtaining money. As we
obtain money by trading for goods and services, so we can obtain the Holy
Spirit by trading our good works done for Christ’s sake, such as prayer,
fasting, almsgiving and loving our fellow man. We will know when our good works
are properly motivated by the fruits they produce. This is only possible if we
remain humble, knowing that it is the Holy Spirit who works through us. We must
take great care to avoid taking credit for our good works and thus nullify our
deeds by pride. He also explains that prayer gives us the grace of the Holy
Spirit most of all because it is always readily available. St Seraphim (2018)
describes prayer as a conversation with God, which implies a two-way dialogue. “The
soul speaks and converses during prayer, but at the descent of the Holy Spirit,
we must remain in complete silence, in order to hear clearly and intelligibly
all the words of eternal life which He will then deign to communicate.”
On the
day of Pentecost, we should be reminded that not only are we saved by the death
and resurrection of Christ, but as Christians, we also receive the grace of the
Holy Spirit within us, the Holy presence of the all-powerful God. We are infinitely
grateful and profoundly awed at such a gift, for we cannot fully fathom the spiritual
reality of God living somewhere within our own being. St. Seraphim (2018) questioned,
“What on earth can be higher and what can be more precious than the gifts of
the Holy Spirit?” He laments that we increase in stature, but not in the grace and
knowledge of God. Instead, we gradually become more and more “depraved,” losing
the grace of the Holy Spirit in varying degrees, unless we actively practice
the virtues for Christ’s sake, including faith, hope, love, knowledge of God, wisdom,
honesty, humility, meekness, self-control, courage, obedience to the will of God,
patience, kindness, compassion, and gratitude for every blessing in our lives.
Xristos
Anesti! Christ is Risen! God bless you!
St.
Seraphim of Sarov. 2018. On Acquisition
of the Holy Spirit. San Bernadino, CA: Sergius Nilus (pgs. 9, 24, 48)
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