Arabic original here.
The Holy Spirit
It is hard to talk about the Holy Spirit because He does not have a visible face like Christ's face.
In the beginning, creation was desolate and empty. The Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, and through Him heaven and earth were brought from chaos into something ordered. Then there were the prophets. God chose out of the Children of Israel people whom He set apart for Himself and sanctified by His word, placing in them breaths of His Spirit until the Word of God came, died and arose. We read in the Gospel today that "the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus had not yet been glorified." That is, when divine love reached its ultimate point in death, the Holy Spirit went into the world.
On this feast, fifty days after Pascha, when God sent His spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon each of the disciples, we have entered into the divine flame, where there is the life-giving word, where the waters become fire that illuminates in baptism. That is, the Spirit becomes personal life for each one of us, inasmuch as it becomes God who leads the universe, a personal God for me. The Holy Spirit is that hypostasis, that person who gives breath to the words of the Gospel, words that give motion, words that give life. In Him, Christ is no longer only Savior of the world-- He becomes my own Savior too.
This movement from the universal God of whom the philosophers speak to the God who faces me and Whom I face, moves my heart and it becomes a resting-place for God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Each of us needs, today and tomorrow, for Christ to become his Christ and the Lord of the world his Lord. Each of us needs to shed his belief in a god who only dwells in heaven. God does not only dwell in heaven. This we have said many times over. God dwells in people's hearts, but people push Him away to the heavens, so that they will no longer have a relationship with Him. Because if God is in heaven, man remains free on earth and he acts according to his lusts. This is why thinkers say that God is in heaven so that the earth will remain theirs alone. But if heaven does not exist for the senses, as is the case, and if the heart alone is heaven, then each person's lot is to become divine, moved by God.
Then the earth is God's possession and it is man's possession if he is from God. The earth is violated and man sickens and sins. Man is not a god, but he is nominated for divinity. You on your own are not a god, but you are a god with all. If you do not love all or all does not love you, you cannot heal your wound. You must heal people's wounds.
For the sake of this, the Holy Spirit is the "Comforter," because He is the Spirit of redress, the Spirit of hope, because He balms our wounds so that all may return to the Father. The Holy Spirit is not a comforter in the sense of replacing people and replacing people's faces, but He is the one who makes people's faces whole again. He is the one who makes people's faces beautiful. He is the one who traces God's splendor on the face of every person because He has sealed with the touch of holiness.
Receive today the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
It is hard to talk about the Holy Spirit because He does not have a visible face like Christ's face.
In the beginning, creation was desolate and empty. The Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, and through Him heaven and earth were brought from chaos into something ordered. Then there were the prophets. God chose out of the Children of Israel people whom He set apart for Himself and sanctified by His word, placing in them breaths of His Spirit until the Word of God came, died and arose. We read in the Gospel today that "the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus had not yet been glorified." That is, when divine love reached its ultimate point in death, the Holy Spirit went into the world.
On this feast, fifty days after Pascha, when God sent His spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon each of the disciples, we have entered into the divine flame, where there is the life-giving word, where the waters become fire that illuminates in baptism. That is, the Spirit becomes personal life for each one of us, inasmuch as it becomes God who leads the universe, a personal God for me. The Holy Spirit is that hypostasis, that person who gives breath to the words of the Gospel, words that give motion, words that give life. In Him, Christ is no longer only Savior of the world-- He becomes my own Savior too.
This movement from the universal God of whom the philosophers speak to the God who faces me and Whom I face, moves my heart and it becomes a resting-place for God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Each of us needs, today and tomorrow, for Christ to become his Christ and the Lord of the world his Lord. Each of us needs to shed his belief in a god who only dwells in heaven. God does not only dwell in heaven. This we have said many times over. God dwells in people's hearts, but people push Him away to the heavens, so that they will no longer have a relationship with Him. Because if God is in heaven, man remains free on earth and he acts according to his lusts. This is why thinkers say that God is in heaven so that the earth will remain theirs alone. But if heaven does not exist for the senses, as is the case, and if the heart alone is heaven, then each person's lot is to become divine, moved by God.
Then the earth is God's possession and it is man's possession if he is from God. The earth is violated and man sickens and sins. Man is not a god, but he is nominated for divinity. You on your own are not a god, but you are a god with all. If you do not love all or all does not love you, you cannot heal your wound. You must heal people's wounds.
For the sake of this, the Holy Spirit is the "Comforter," because He is the Spirit of redress, the Spirit of hope, because He balms our wounds so that all may return to the Father. The Holy Spirit is not a comforter in the sense of replacing people and replacing people's faces, but He is the one who makes people's faces whole again. He is the one who makes people's faces beautiful. He is the one who traces God's splendor on the face of every person because He has sealed with the touch of holiness.
Receive today the grace of the Holy Spirit.
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