Saint Nicholas Cathedral
June 23, 2024
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is the glorious day of Pentecost, the consummation of the entire Paschal movement. On Holy Thursday night, the night on which he was given up, the Lord told us that he was going away so that he could send another Comforter, and today, that other Comforter arrives in a great rush of wind.
Today, the Holy Spirit who rested on the Lord Jesus during the days of his flesh, who sits forever enthroned together with the Father and the Son from before the ages—today, this Spirit is sent and descends to be enthroned upon each of the disciples of the Christ, upon all who are gathered in the Upper Room.
The Spirit descends in tongues like flame, and each who receives him becomes like a candle or lamp. Lit by the spiritual fire of divine energy, the apostles are no longer hidden in the Cenacle, but rather they go into the streets to spread the light and warmth of the Gospel, sharing it with all who would receive it.
Thus, in the words of St. Gregory Palamas, “the Lord, in his all-surpassing love for mankind, showed at Pentecost that his disciples were partakers, fathers, and ministers of everlasting light and life.” The same saint says that the fire of Pentecost, “the grace of the Holy Spirit, is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their spiritual shepherds and teachers,” the heirs to the apostolic ministry.
Pentecost, in this way, is not so-much a one-time event—“the birthday of the Church” as it is popularly known—but the ongoing state of the Church in this final age of this passing world.
St. Paul refers to Christians as those “upon whom the end of the ages has come.” This meeting with the end of the ages is what happens through our personal encounter with the grace of Pentecost through the mysteries of baptism and chrismation. When we are baptized, we die so that we may live; when we are chrismated, we are sealed as those who are called to live, not for this world, but for the world to come. From the time of our entrance into the Church—from the time we receive the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit—our life becomes eschatological, oriented not towards this perishing world, but toward the eternal kingdom of Christ. This is the gift, grace, and joy of Pentecost.
And because of this, we cannot help but use the occasion of this feast to ask ourselves: do we truly live in accordance with our calling?
Do we truly lead our lives striving toward the finish line, faithfully running the race of godliness? Or do we compete mainly for world accomplishments, recognition, and satisfaction?
We have been made into thrones for the Spirit of God himself; and yet, how often do we offer pride of place in our lives to some other spirit?
Are we lights for the world, sharing the illumination and joy of the Gospel with all around us, or have we retreated back under a bed or a bushel, hiding our great gift?
Is our treasure in heaven, or are we always building bigger barns?
I do not ask these questions in order to turn a feast day into a somber occasion; rather, we must constantly ask ourselves these questions “so that our joy may be full,” to cite once again Our Lord’s farewell discourse.
All the blessedness of the Gospel, all the blessedness of God, is a single blessedness: “blessed is the kingdom.” Thus, there is no true joy without truth, and there is no encounter with truth apart from honesty and repentance.
Therefore, if we truly wish to know the joy of Pentecost today, then we should use the present feast as a happy occasion to inspire a recommitment to our own personal Pentecost—our own baptism and chrismation, our own entrance into the Church.
Everything necessary for our salvation was given to us at that moment, as Sts. Ignatius and Callistus Xanthopoulos teach. All light, all happiness, all holiness—it can be ours, if we strive to live in accordance with the abundant grace of the Spirit, the saving Gospel of Christ, the sacred purity of the Father.
As St. John Chrysostom says, “For at the time of our baptism our soul shines forth more brightly than the sun because it has been cleansed by the Spirit. … Similarly, when a soul has been purified” of everything worldly that tries to drag us down after baptism, “and has become brighter than the sun, it receives rays from the glory of the Spirit which illumine its own innate glory.”
Therefore, rejoicing this day in the gift of the Spirit given at Pentecost, bestowed on us at our entrance into the Church, we nevertheless strive always to acquire that Spirit, as St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches.
Thus, turning away from all worldly illusions and temptations, we aspire to go from grace to grace, living for the age to come, hastening with joyful step toward the light that never sets, the glory of the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.