On Pentecost, we can identify areas in our lives in which we feel alone and ask to feel the Holy Spirit’s presence more deeply
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This week we sit between Ascension and Pentecost. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says that the departure of Jesus at the Ascension was to our advantage: Through that departure Jesus came to dwell inside us, forever, through the Holy Spirit. This indwelling has important implications metaphysically, psychologically and spiritually: It means we are never alone.
Think about it: Jesus was never alone in His mission. That’s why we hear Him say this week: “But I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16). That’s one of the reasons we see Him constantly taking time away for prayer. It’s not because He wasn’t already with the Father. He was. But, as a human being, He needed time and space to foster the conversation, to sharpen His awareness of being with and relying on the Father at all times.
So let’s fill in some blanks. When Jesus says to the Father, “as you sent me into the world” we can fill in: never alone, but always with you. Then, when He says of His disciples, “so I sent them into the world,” we can fill in: never alone, but always with us. That means we, too, need time and space to foster the conversation with God, to sharpen our awareness of Jesus dwelling in us always and to rely on the Holy Spirit more deeply.
Because of the descent of the Holy Spirit — not only a long time ago in history but also upon each of us in baptism, and not only once in baptism but also as a constant indwelling presence — we are never alone. That leads to an important question to ask this week as we prepare for Pentecost: What’s an area of your life where you act or feel as though you are alone – where self-reliance is your rule — and you’d like to let the Holy Spirit in? That’s a great place, this week, to pray for a personal Pentecost. “Come, Holy Spirit. Come into this part of my life. Help me to know your presence more deeply. Help me to rely on you constantly, knowing that I am never alone.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem also says the Holy Spirit falls upon us the way water falls upon plants: As the water remains itself but produces various effects, so the Holy Spirit remains always itself but produces various effects in us. St. Basil the Great says something very similar, though he compares the Holy Spirit to the sunshine: Remaining one in itself, both sunshine and the Holy Spirit produce manifold works.
This can be a great consolation to us. It also addresses one of the world’s great confusions about unity and diversity. When we rely only on ourselves diversity becomes division and unity becomes uniformity. The more we rely on the Holy Spirit, the less we become cookie-cutter images of one another — the Spirit makes diversity flourish. At the same time, the more we rely on the Holy Spirit, the more united we become even in our differences. Holy Spirit inspired diversity is always diversity in the one Body. Only God can blend unity and diversity in such a marvelous way. Come, Holy Spirit!
