The Grace of the Holy Spirit.
By Monk Markellos Karakallenos
The Holy Spirit is the source of the divine
gifts and when He descended upon the
holy Apostles, He gave them all the graces. Through them therefore every
receptive and pure soul receives the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Through the Holy Apostles the Holy Spirit
granted to the faithful, the believers of their preaching the knowledge of
theology, of Divinity, and divinely to confess in true faith the indivisible
and inseparable nature of Divinity, known by the three hypostases, the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has as vehicle and throne
the souls of people. He approaches very delicately every soul and uses and
sanctifies the physical characteristics and gifts of each soul. If the soul
remains only in its physical state and does not enjoy through its purity the
grace of the Holy Spirit, then it becomes deprived of His rich gift that
corresponds to it. Without the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit, the
physical graces are not developed and especially the psychological make up of
the soul. The soul remains in this suffering stage and does not become renewed.
It does not attain the capacity the divine grace intends for it. The divine
grace is always urging towards the good and does not impose. Therefore, if the
soul does not accept the invitation of the divine grace and does not struggle
to develop and multiply its talants, it denies itself, for it cannot reach the
level it deserves. As a result on the Day of Judgment it will repent and will
have to give account why it did not use properly its talants.
How can
we be found worthy of the Grace of the Holy Spirit?
If we keep our soul clean from the passions
and from evil and vile thoughts. "It is undoable (impossible) to become worthy
to possess the divine Grace within us, if we do not first get rid of the
passions which managed to capture our souls. For a container that earlier
contained foul smelling liquid, if it is not first washed well, it cannot be
used to pour in it myrrh. First the existing contents must be poured out to
enable to hold whatever will be poured in it later (Great Basil, explanation of
Psalm 61:6).
Purge oh Lord the years that pull at my
soul, through the operation of the Grace of the Holy Spirit and brighten its
robe and restore its health so that it may always turn with all its strength
towards Your love and give praise.
The clean heart attracts to it the rays of
the Holy Spirit and then the soul ethereally flies and ascends the heavens.
Wishing for the Grace of the Holy Spirit, Prophet David would say: "Give me
wings like the pigeons and I shall fly and find rest" (Ps. 59:4).
Like the dew of dawn that settles on the
petals of the flowers gives them beauty and life, so also the divine grace as
dew and a gentle breeze enters the depth of the soul and acts and consoles the
soul and the body. It makes tears flow in the eyes and pours into the soul,
grace in the form of tongues of fire.
When we recite the prayer of Jesus, the
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, the most sweet name of our Lord brings
peace to the heart and blooms and bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, virtue, kindness, faith,
meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:23).
If we show this care then we shall receive
the Grace of the Holy Spirit in proportion to our purity and we shall become
intimates of Christ and not strangers and foreign to Him. In the present life
we shall receive as betrothal the Grace of the Holy Spirit which we shall enjoy
more richly and purely in the Kingdom of Heavens through the Grace and love of
mankind of the Most Holy and Life-creating Spirit to whom is due all glory,
honour and worship with the without beginning Father and His Word of the same
essence, unto the ages. Amen.
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