Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the great feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Apostles!

At the beginning of today’s Gospel reading, we heard how on the final and great day of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles, when a festive procession was making its way out of the Temple in Jerusalem to the spring at Siloam, and the Jewish choirs were singing the words of the prophet Isiah, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Is 12: 3), Jesus Christ, standing to the side in the courts of the Temple, was calling people to Himself with the words: “ If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink.” In such a way, our Lord was hinting to His people that He is that salvific well or spring about which they were singing and that through Him, they can draw water of salvation, i. e. the Holy Spirit. The Lord adds the following wonderful words: “He that believeth on me,… out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The faithful themselves will become springs of Grace, able to quench the thirst of the world and to enlighten it.

Many people over the course of history heard this call and believed in Christ, and in turn came to gush forth divine teaching. Of course, these are first of all the holy apostles, who through their preaching watered the whole world, caught many people into their spiritual nets, and drew them into the ship of Christ’s Church. Today that same living water, which in times past watered the parched land of the pagan world and made it to bud into a green and living garden of the Christian Church, is operating and watering us!

Although many came to believe in the Lord and accepted the Holy Spirit, others did not want to hear anything about Him. We heard about this also in today’s Gospel reading. The Sanhedrin (the council of priests, pharisees, and scribes) did not even want to hear from Christ about His teaching before the condemned Him. Only Nicodemus defended Him. We see the same thing in our day, when many condemn or even despise the Church, even though they know nothing about Her. On such a festive and joyous day as the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, it’s sad and unpleasant to remember that many, perhaps even the majority of people, do not wish to draw the salvific water of the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Let this not trouble us, for Christ does not compel anyone; He does not force anyone to come to Him, but stands to the side in the Temple and calmly, but persistently calls all to Himself and waters with living water the thirsty, that is those who feel within themselves a need to hear the word of God. All of us, gathered together in church, are those thirsty people. All that is left to do is to quench that thirst, i. e. to earnestly listen to, read, and study the Word of God, pray fervently, do good deeds, participate in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church, and, in such a way, through the Grace of the Holy Spirit, to ourselves become springs of living water.

priest Alexis