Descent of the Holy Spirit. Holy and Glorious Pentecost; Our Holy Father Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria (444)
Read
Acts 2:1-11; John 7:37-52; 8:12
What a wonderful image of the Holy Spirit: a river of living water, which flows forth from those who believe in Christ. Whenever we see a river each one of us wants to stop and look at how its waters flow. We think about those downstream and how the waters bring life and joy to them. The Holy Spirit acts in a similar fashion through us and makes us God’s instruments so that we might bring life and joy to others. He gives us various gifts (see Is 11:2–3: wisdom, reason, counsel, strength, knowledge, devotion and fear of God), while we, in turn, are called to bring forth His fruit (see Gal 5:22–23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, self-control) for the growth of the Church of Christ.
We can say that the Holy Spirit allows us the possibility to know Christ as the Light of the world, and leads us to a life in Christ. He makes each one of us a carrier of Divine grace, an apostle of Christ, a witness to His truth and a luminary of God’s goodness. We can, therefore, conclude that the Lord calls us to an active Christian life. He invites us to boldly take responsibility upon ourselves and work to change society for the better, to transfigure our parishes, to better our lives in the light of the Good News. Jesus overcame the world (see Jn 16:33) and, having given us His Holy Spirit, He calls us to holiness and to witnessing His goodness and mercy. Let us not be afraid to share our gift of faith with others. Let us be assured of Christ’s support, as he has not left us alone. Let us ask for inspiration from the Holy Spirit, so that we might do God’s will in all.
(Reflection taken from Mission Days)