The Gospel of the Coming of the Holy Spirit-- The Meaning of Belief

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

     In the Gospel for Pentecost, the Lord promises that “rivers of living water” will flow from within those who believe in Him.  The Apostle John goes on to explain that the Lord Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been sent on the faithful, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. 

     Today we can focus our attention upon the promise of Jesus, and ponder what it means to have “rivers of living water” flowing from within us.  A few weeks ago, in connection with the similar passage in the Gospel concerning the Samaritan Woman, we remembered that the spiritual writer Seraphim of Sarov wrote that the purpose of the Christian life was the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.  This, of course, is another way of saying what St. Athanasius of Alexandria said, namely, that the purpose of the Christian life was to become God by grace (to share the same life with God).  So, what do we have to do in order to acquire these “rivers of living water”?

     The Gospel passage supplies the answer to the question.  We have to believe in Jesus.  But the belief that is being spoken of here is much more comprehensive than the usual idea of “belief,” which we are familiar with from day to day.  To say that I “believe” in something mundane costs me nothing, but to say that I believe in the Lord Jesus is life-changing.  After professing that belief, no aspect of my life can be the same.  Faith not only means assent to certain abstract truths, but a commitment to a concrete way of life, which is founded on those truths.  So, what does this belief entail, which will cause us to inherit the “rivers of living water?” Let us see what the Word of God has told us regarding these sacred rivers.  The forty-third chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is especially illuminating.  There, we read: “For behold, I am bringing forth a new miracle! Now it will sprout, you will surely know it: I will make a road in the desert and, in the wilderness, rivers.  The beasts of the field will honour Me—the jackals and the ostriches—for I have put water in the desert and rivers in the wilderness, to provide drink for My chosen people, this people which I fashioned for Myself that they might declare My praise.  But you did not call out to Me, O Jacob, for you grew weary of Me, O Israel.”  This passage shows that the work of the Holy Spirit, the “rivers of living water,” is our salvation, since these rivers are to provide drink for us. They are to give us life.  But the passage also shows that salvation is a synergy. God plays His part, but He has also assigned a part to us.  He gives us drink; He gives us life, but our duty is communion and fellowship with Him.  We have a duty to live in relationship with Him through prayer.  This same theme is brought out in the forty-first chapter, where the Holy Prophet once again speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit in similar terms: “The poor and the destitute beg for water but there is none, their tongue withers from thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them; the God of Israel, I will not forsake them.  I will open up rivers upon the hilltops and springs in the midst of valleys; I will turn the desert into a pond of water and a parched land into sources of water. In the wilderness I will set cedar, acacia, myrtle and pine tree; I will place cypress, fir and box tree together in a desert, so that they should see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has brought it about.” Here the Lord speaks through the prophet concerning not only the life-giving rivers of the Spirit, which will be opened for all, but He also speaks of the Fruits of the Spirit, which we who receive the Holy Spirit must manifest through our fellowship in His Spirit and Life.  In the same way that beautiful trees spring up along the course of a river, so too must the fruit of our relationship with God spring up.  This relationship, which bears such abundant fruit is accomplished—on our part—principally by prayer. Partaking of the living waters of the Holy Spirit is meant to be the beginning of an ever-deepening relationship, which continues beyond this life into the Kingdom of God.  We see, in Isaiah, that the prophet uses the image of a river that grows ever wider and wider, the symbol of our communion with God, which grows greater and greater. In the thirty-third chapter, he writes: “Behold Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, the tranquil abode, the tent that will not be displaced, whose stakes will not be uprooted forever, and none of whose ropes will be severed. For only there will the Lord be our Mighty One; it will be like a place of wide rivers and channels; a boat cannot traverse it, and a mighty vessel cannot cross it.” The Lord makes the waters of His Holy Spirit run down like rivers to the thirsty soil of our souls, but it is our part to drink thereof.  We must freely enter into communion with God through prayer.  If we accept His call to relationship, then He will make the fruits of His Spirit grow up in us. 

     Prayer is raising the mind and the heart to God.  In other words, it is intentionally joining ourselves to Him, Who is the Creator of everything that exists.  Once we enter His presence through prayer, we realize that His presence is the basis of every ethical and moral judgment, since nothing impure or evil can enter therein.  For this reason, the Fathers tell us that the beginning of prayer is simply to sit in the presence of God.  The Mysteries of Christ are the means, which Christ has established for our salvation, but the greatness of the Mysteries will be fruitless in us, if we are strangers to prayer—to the presence of God. 

     God is never far from us.  All we ever need do is place ourselves in His presence.  Naturally, the principle means to our communion with God is the Liturgy, in which we meditate both by deed and word upon the life of Christ our God and on the history of salvation in such a concentrated way that Christ becomes really present to us, and we become present to Him in His Kingdom. Nevertheless, the goal of Catholic Christians is constant prayer, a life that is lived continuously in the presence of God by His constant recollection.  We begin our journey toward this goal by setting aside certain times for prayer, in order to establish the habit of prayer.  Then, with the habit and practice of prayer firmly in place, we can extend our prayer little by little to the rest of our life.  We should set the goal to set aside at least fifteen minutes for prayer (besides the very formal and staid morning and evening prayers, which are customary for all the faithful), using either the Jesus Prayer, or a passage of Scripture as a means to concentrate the mind upon the presence of God.

     Our God is pouring out the “rivers of living water” of His Holy Spirit to us.  We need to willingly drink thereof—willingly enter into His friendship through prayer.  If we make the commitment to deepen our communion with the Lord, we will more abundantly share in His life, becoming one with His Holy Spirit.