Pentecost Monday Joh 15, 26-3, 12-15

Cooperate more with the Holy Spirit.It is gratifying that more and more Christians are cooperating with the Holy Spirit. It is not only during the preparation for the reception of the sacrament of confirmation, but also during the reception of the other sacraments. Hear that several parents pray to the Holy Spirit when their child is born in the mother’s womb. Their model is the cooperation of the Virgin Mary with the Holy Spirit, who cooperated during the conception of the Lord Jesus in her womb. Many of us cannot imagine preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation without asking the Holy Spirit to know our sins, truly repent of them, and make atonement for our sins in love. After receiving the Eucharistic Christ in silence, in meditation, we let God speak and act on our spiritual and physical life. Not only the sick, but also spouses and priests, but also the healthy and those who are preparing for marriage and receiving the priesthood, when they devote time and attention to the gifts of the Holy Spirit,Jesus’ words belong to each of us: “Peace be with you!”… “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20,21,22).The Acts of the Apostles describe the events on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. With great power and wisdom, the apostles leave the supper table and begin to fulfill Jesus’ command: Go and teach… (cf. Mt 28:19). It is the beginning of the public activity of the Church. We understand Pentecost as the day of the birth of the Church. On that day, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and those present in the Last Supper in the form of tongues of fire. Another phenomenon, a roar likened to the wind, gathered the inhabitants of Jerusalem and those present at the feasts to listen with amazement to the sermon of the apostle Peter and subsequently to be baptized.The Holy Spirit is one of the three divine persons in whom we believe. It is the essence of our faith and not just its object. We confess: “I believe in the Holy Spirit…”. He is a Giver, but at the same time a gift of God the Father and the resurrected Christ for the Church. After his resurrection, during the first meeting with the disciples, Jesus “breathed on them and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit'” (Jn 20:22). On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit manifested His power. The fearful, unlearned apostles spoke in tongues that were spoken in Jerusalem: “How is it that each of us hears them in our own language in which we were born? We, the Parthians, the Medes, the Elamites, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the Libyan regions around Cyrene, Roman immigrants, Jews and Parozelites, Cretans and Arabs: We hear them speak in their own languages ​​about the great God’s works” (Acts 2, 8-11). That’s what the Holy Spirit does. Equal to God the Father, God the Son, and at the same time God is not the Father and God the Son, but God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit deserves our respect, honor, celebration… as the Father and the Son.Among the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, let us notice more the “gift of tongues”. Every gift of the Holy Spirit, like this one, must be understood and accepted. The gift of tongues is one of the smallest gifts of the Holy Spirit, which primarily serves to build the personal faith of the recipient. It rests on speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Spoken words, which may be unintelligible and may resemble the beginning of a child’s speech. Such talk of the child means nothing, but how much joy these words bring to the parents. The gift of tongues serves to glorify God. Whoever wants to say everything about God will not find the words. The Holy Spirit comes to the aid of what human words cannot express. They have experience in the meetings of the Holy Spirit movement with the gift of tongues. You can also hear the opposite opinions, attitudes, opinions that they can pray in the usual way. They say that if the Holy Spirit wants, to pray in tongues, so why shouldn’t I have that option. In the First Letter to the Corinthians in chapters 12 to 14 St. Paul writes about the charisms of the Holy Spirit and the principles of drawing on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Here is a guide for those who would like to start fascinating spiritual adventures. Yes, the gifts of the Spirit are for all who have believed in Christ. Whoever has received baptism and received confirmation is to cooperate with the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, art, piety and the fear of God. God the Father wants each of us to be, first of all, a wise person, to be able to follow him in life, so that life has meaning and value. A Christian has the right to draw on special gifts that are for the baptized, such as the gift of tongues. There are also other gifts, such as prophecies, the gift of working miracles or the gift of healing. God the Father desires to give us everything, what we need to build personal holiness and build the kingdom of God on earth. Holiness begins today, and so does salvation, and not in some vague future. Therefore, we can already ask for the gifts that we need and that the Holy Spirit wants to give us.The Acts of the Apostles teach that the gifting of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was not a one-time event. They say that the Holy Spirit manifested itself several times even in the early Church. Through the laying on of hands by the apostles, many received these gifts. Even today we can receive these gifts. It is necessary to believe God’s word, to ask the Holy Spirit, to be in a state of friendship with God, and it must benefit us and everyone.When was the last time we asked for the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do we not ask out of fear? Why are we afraid? It is not enough for students to pray before an exam. It is not enough to pay attention to these gifts only on the Feast of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”In order to be in communion with Christ, we must first be touched by the Holy Spirit. He precedes us and inspires faith in us” (KKS 683). The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Christian life. Just as the soul is not visible by itself, but only through its action, so also the Holy Spirit remains hidden (cf. CCC 687), but is known in its “fruits” (cf. CCC 1832). The Holy Spirit must not be a great unknown among us and in us. After all, Jesus said: “It is better for you that I go away. For if I do not leave, the Comforter will not come to you. But when I go away, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). And when the disciples ask him before returning to the Father when he will restore the kingdom, he says: “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit is now the “other Comforter” who will remain with us forever. Through him Christ is in our midst, through him we may call God “Abba, Father”. The Catechism mentions above all four actions of the Holy Spirit (cf. CCC 737,1092).He prepares people for Christ. From the beginning of creation, He lives as the life-giving Spirit in all creatures. In the history of the Old Testament, that Spirit prepares the chosen nation for the coming of the Messiah. He is the Spirit of Advent.He reveals Christ: “…and no one can say: “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3; KCC 683). The Holy Spirit lets us know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. It reminds the Church of everything that Christ said. “The Holy Spirit is the living memory of the Church” (CCC 1099).It makes Christ present. In the life of the Church, Jesus is not only mentioned, but the Risen One is present in his word, in “the least of my brothers”, in the sacraments. The presence of Christ in the Eucharistic ways, which are transformed into his body and blood by the action of the Holy Spirit, is special. (cf. CCC 1107).Connects with Christ. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. It unites everyone in whom it works with Christ. “The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father’s vine, which bears fruit on the branches” (CCC 1108). He is “the inner teacher who prompts, directs, corrects and strengthens this life” (CCC 1697). He is also a teacher of “interior Christian prayer” (CCC 2672). That is why we fervently ask him daily: “Come, Holy Spirit.” (Cf. CH. Schönborn OP. From the work Foundations of our faith).In one of his short stories, the Russian writer Alexei Tikhonov talks about an old man who lost and found the light of faith again.It is Easter and an old man stands with his wife by the grave of his daughter. In the sacred silence of the cemetery, he says to his wife: “All my life I have been looking for my God… But here, life unexpectedly took away a part of ourselves from us – Olga. I take stock of what I have experienced and say: God is and his will is above me…” TheHoly Spirit often acts with its gifts even when people underestimate it. In the Holy Spirit we recognize that “God is love” (1 Jn 4,16).It is up to us to start cooperating directly with the Holy Spirit in our whole life, in our daily events. Already at today’s holy mass. Now.