Brief reflection on the Descent of the Holy Spirit
We are now in the 40 days’ Easter period, commemorating the glorious victory of Christ over death and sin. The Word of God points out a deep relation to the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ through the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you…” (Rom 8:11f).
New life – the life of the risen Christ should be manifested in us through the Holy Spirit. The condition is to walk by faith and to give all our plans, worries and everything to Jesus. Let us not cling to anything, be it our thoughts, hurt feelings, doubts about God and His Word, or self-pity. Let us give our all to Him. He will then work through us in power, maybe in secret only, but our union with Him in faith will bear fruit for eternity.
At the end of May, we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit fill you again and endow you with the true divine joy and His gifts. It is not enough to receive gifts; we need to receive the Giver! Let us do our best to live in the presence of God, seeking His will, so that our decisions, words and acts would not be our own but of God. To abide in and walk with God, we need practical faith. Indeed, we need to walk by faith like Abraham. And we need to revive our faith ever anew in all trials. No manifestation of a living faith is in vain or without response!
Ezekiel 37 – the prophecy of the valley of dry bones – is related to the Resurrection of Christ and Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). There are two stages in Eze 37. The bones first came together, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them, but there was no spirit in them. What happened was that the bones began to move at the word of prophecy. It was the working of the Holy Spirit but not yet in fullness. One can speak of the firstfruits of the Spirit. Only when the prophet prophesied the second time, speaking to the Spirit of God, the bones came to life and formed a great army.
The apostles died and were raised to life with Christ, and they formed the Body of Christ – the Church – in the period between the Resurrection and Pentecost. After the Resurrection, when they were gathered together in the upper room, Jesus breathed on them and said to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.” The Holy Spirit is at work in the forgiveness of sins; we are delivered from grave sins. Sin causes death. It breaks up, atomizes the Body of Christ. So the Resurrection of Christ, the forgiveness of sins and our resurrection with Him is the first stage. The Holy Spirit only comes in fullness in the second stage at the word of prophecy when we turn directly to Him, open ourselves to Him and receive Him. So to walk in the Holy Spirit means to be ‘martyres’ – witnesses. The Holy Spirit in us overcomes our passions, our fear of suffering, of being ridiculed for the sake of Christ and the Gospel… We were buried in baptism into Christ’s death, we were also raised with Him and we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, but a life without personal faith is nothing but a theory.
Many of you prayed acc. Mk 11:23 (prayer of unity and power) as well as for the resurrection of the nation (prophetic prayer) with perseverance every day during Lent and still continue praying. The entire nation can be raised to life by God alone. But He wants each of us to contribute to it. He wants at least a drop of our faith! This is our great task. God puts His trust in every one of you. And He wants you to trust in Him.
Download: Brief reflection on the Descent of the Holy Spirit
