Homily

God the Holy Spirit. Third person of the Holy Trinity, truly God and absolutely equal to the Father and the Son, co-eternal. Now, what else can you tell me about the Holy Spirit? It gets a little tougher after that, doesn’t it? We find it much easier to describe God the Father, because we understand what a father is. And it’s even easier to speak of Jesus Christ Who came to us in the flesh as a man. But the Holy Spirit, God, is not so easily talked about. And that’s one reason that you don’t hear many priests giving sermons about the Holy Spirit. That’s why, today, I will let others do the talking.

St. Athanasius, tells us that God the Spirit performs the work of sanctifying people, and when we possess Him, we possess God. The Father created everything by Him, and He is unchangeable, immense, unified, and divine.

The texts for this evening’s vespers teach us that God the Holy Spirit is Life and the Giver of Life, Light and the Giver of Light, good by His very nature and the source of all goodness, and it is through Him that the Father is known, and the Son is glorified. He is the Living Spring, mystically gushing forth for us, the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of Knowledge, good, upright, understanding, majestic. He purifies us from our sins. He is God and He deifies us. He brings light to our hearts and strengthens our faith.

All of these are poetic descriptions of the Spirit and perhaps most suitably so, because, since He is Spirit, even as the theologians attempt to tie Him down to academic and intellectual explanations, perhaps He is best spoken of in terms of symbols, analogies and poetry.

Another way we can learn about the Spirit is through what He does. How many can remember the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit? The only reason I ask is because that is one list that I can remember. Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety and the Fear of the Lord. These are the gifts the Holy Spirit brings to us and desires to increase in us.

The gift of Wisdom helps us better contemplate and meditate on divine truth and to judge all things according to that truth. Understanding allows us to more easily grasp and comprehend revealed truth. Counsel helps us to judge promptly and correctly what should be done in difficult situations. Knowledge perfects our faith and allows us to see God’s providence for us in whatever situation enters our lives and helps us distinguish between impulses to temptation and inspirations of grace. The gift of Fortitude provides us with strength for our wills so that we may be ready to undergo trials for the love of God, courage to bear with difficulties, firmness of purpose in doing what is good and perseverance in the face of trials, disappointments, persecution, and humiliation. Piety gives us the ability to have a love for God as our Father, and a willingness to obey Him as loving children. Fear of the Lord is a gift that inspires us with profound respect for the majesty of God. It helps us be people who dread to offend the Lord, and who are confident in His power to help us.

And then we can learn about the Holy Spirit through the Twelve Fruits He provides. They are: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-control and Chastity. May I repeat them?

I have thought of seven “gifts of the world” to contrast with the gifts of the Spirit: Self-centeredness, Quest for Power, Love of Money and Material Goods, Desire for Pleasure, Lust, Dishonesty/Deception and Hatred of the Truth. My list. But notice the contrast between those who live with the Fruits of the Spirit and those who live according to the spirit of the world. It is not always easy for us who live in this world to live apart from the spirit of this world. Sometimes it may even be difficult to tell the difference. When people use the word “love” does it necessarily mean the same thing as when we speak of Christian love? When non-believers say they perform works of charity, even though they may indeed be very good works, is that what we mean by Christian charity? Modesty is a form of respect for oneself and for others—does the word “modesty” ever even appear in the vocabulary of so many people in our community today?

How do we live as Christians in a world where so many people reject or ignore the love of God for them, and the truth of God for them? How do we live in a world where people tell us not to impose our religious morality on them even while they impose their secular morality on us? How can we distinguish true love from false, genuine compassion from sentimentality, authentic truth from “truth for today”? It is only by the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we can live faithfully in a culture that has little faith. It is only by the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we can stand for the truth instead of for the latest fads and slogans which change every few years. It is only by the fruits of the Holy Spirit that we can live the fullest life possible for us in this world, and invite others to do the same, as the apostles did on that Pentecost Day.

And if we live as people who enjoy the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, and do that by the Gifts He provides, we give example to others of God’s love for us. May we be bold enough to invite others to share in that same love, even as we pray for and encourage one another in faith.