The Work of the Holy Spirit
By (the late) Fr. Simon El-Zind
Friday 1/26/2011 – Annaya (The Family of Saint Sharbel)
(Note: This talk is based on notes and audio recordings, and is, therefore, rather colloquial).
Glory be to God.
Paul’s conversion is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Church gave St. Ephrem the title of “Harp of the Holy Spirit” because he spoke of God eloquently and praised his name, and that because the Holy Spirit was working in him.
In the biblical account of Pentecost–when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples who started speaking in tongues–, those who witnessed the event thought that the disciples were inebriated. But Peter replied to them: these men are not inebriated.
However, I believe that Peter should have rather replied that these men are not inebriated–at least, not in the usual way people get drunk from earthly wine–, but they are full of the Holy Spirit, instead of wine, and are intoxicated with the ecstasy of love, whose gifts overflow and which manifests through its fruits. If only you would share in this drunkenness, which does not result in a hangover but opens our eyes to the lights of eternal glory!
The Holy Spirit is the hero of this story, but an ineffable one. In the Trinitarian family, the Father has an earthly analogue, albeit a very flawed one. For when I call “Father!”, both my earthly and heavenly fathers answer me.
When we speak of the Son, we know what it means for someone to have a son. But when we speak of the Spirit, we can only depict him through his work. Hence, we recognize the presence (or absence) of the Holy Spirit through his work and fruits.
John says that the Holy Spirit is like the wind: you do not know where it blows, where it comes from, or where it is going. Yet, we feel its presence and absence.
You are familiar with the symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Bible. I would like to connect them to our daily lives, which means talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in us rather than about the dogma of the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit in us is unmistakable because we experience it. It is symbolized by water, fire, and wind–three things connected to our daily spiritual life. What these symbols have in common is that neither water, fire, nor wind have a definite shape. Water takes the shape of the vessel it is in. Vessels are many but the content is one. So it is with the work of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us is different, but the Holy Spirit in us distributes his gifts in a way to embellish best its vessel, so that whoever beholds the vessel glorifies God for it. The Holy Spirit takes the shape and volume of the available vessel. Nevertheless, each of these symbols (water, fire, and wind) has its own characteristics. Meditating on these characteristics allows us to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Because the Holy Spirit is amorphous and immaterial, his work is internal. He works in the immaterial part of us, that is, our spiritual life. Nonetheless, this internal work brewing inside us is reflected outwardly through its fruits.
St Paul says: it is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I cannot contain Christ who is infinitely bigger than me, but the Spirit of Christ lives in me and guides me. We must not separate between Christ and his Spirit, who is a gift from him. Jesus breathed on his disciples on Pentecost and said to them on the day of the resurrection (John 20): receive the Holy Spirit. Whomever you forgive, his sins are forgiven…
This Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, if the Spirit of Jesus lives in me, Jesus himself lives in me, and I start to be configured to him.
The descent of the Holy Spirit on us is made visible in baptism. In baptism, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and we become his temples. As was Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, so am I filled with him, and I will do the works of the Son and greater works than these (John 14:12-14). We are supported by the Son and the Spirit of the Son. The Father promised us that he would not refuse a request made in his Son’s name. However, we must have faith.
Jesus worked under the guidance, and with the power, of the Holy Spirit who never departed from him, not even for a second. The Holy Spirit led him to the desert where he was tempted. He returned to the synagogue where he said: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he anointed me and sent me. Jesus also exorcised demons by the Holy Spirit. He communicates to the Father through the Spirit. Therefore, Jesus led his life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit which fills him and which he gives to us, so that we may walk his same path. The successor works in the same Spirit as the predecessor.
We work in the same Spirit, meaning, under the same guidance and with the same thoughts as our Founder, Jesus. We follow Jesus’ actions verbatim, to the end, and with the same Spirit which we receive in baptism. The Spirit dwells in us and transforms us.
The Holy Spirit was limited to Jesus, but, on Pentecost, Jesus gave his Spirit to the Church so that whoever believe in him can do the works he does.
The Holy Spirit is mine, he dwells in me and is alive. Here we must distinguish between Spirit, soul, and conscience.
Christians and non-Christians alike have a conscience. This is God’s voice in us. It is the power to discern between good and evil.
The soul is created by God and is not material but spiritual. I am born with a human soul, but the soul is created by God and is called to return to him. The Holy Spirit is God and is uncreated. When the Holy Spirit enters me, I receive the power to sanctify myself. If conscience is a power of discernment, the Spirit is a power of sanctification. The Holy Spirit encompasses all dimensions: it enters the body and sanctifies it, enters the soul and sanctifies it, and enters the conscience and enlightens it. It unifies all these dimensions.
The Holy Spirit unifies us, and not only as a community, but as individuals: it unifies all the powers which are fragmented in each of us. Unless the Holy Spirit enters me and unifies me, I would be unable to witness to the One God.
My body drags me down, the soul pulls me up, and my conscience is confused. The Holy Spirit purifies and unifies all three of them.
The wind symbol: it is connected to breath. When there is no air, one stops breathing and dies. Life depends on breathing. When I speak of life, I speak of the Holy Spirit as defense and principal agent through my prayers and reading of the Holy Bible.
Philip asked the minister of the Queen of Ethiopia: do you understand what you read? The minister replied: How can I, unless someone explains it to me?
As soon as Philip explained to him about the Holy Spirit, he understood him thanks to the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus opened the eyes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he gave them the gift of opening their minds to understand Scripture.
This is a Spirit of understanding and knowledge who helps me understand and pray. St Paul says: the Holy Spirit prays in you in ineffable groanings. He cries through us: “Abba, Father” (Spirit of sonhood and daughterhood). Paul exhorts us: Allow yourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and sing together psalms, praise, and spiritual hymns. Sing and glorify the Lord in your hearts, and thank God the Father at every moment, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you.
For when we are filled with the Spirit, we can pray and participate in the Divine Liturgy. In Liturgy, the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit is very important and well emphasized. It is as if we have been waiting for this moment when we say: “Hear us, O Lord; Hear us, O Lord.” In this moment, the priest feels that he is the most powerful creature on earth, despite his limitedness, because he is calling on the Holy Spirit to descend on the offering on the altar and make it the body and blood of the Lord, and to transform the world into the Church of the Lord and his Mystical body. The Holy Spirit intervenes at our request, and we say in response: “How awesome is this moment.”
The fire symbol: I connect it to spiritual struggle.
We inhabit a weak body. The body is, by nature, good. God did not create it bad. Yet, its state worsens when it competes with the Spirit.
I must use my body and honor it, but I must also make it worship what is beyond itself, that is, the Spirit.
I must not make my body the object of my worship, for this is a form of idolatry, or the worship of created things. The state of the body worsens when it becomes the center of our worship. St Paul says: Live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.
So, fire symbolizes the purifying role of the Spirit. Fire burns and purifies. It is unmistakable. There are contradictory emotions in me, and I must burn some and keep others. I cannot forego all of my emotions. Some say: Do whatever you want on weekdays, and confess to the priest on Sunday; that way, during the week you put on the mask of the body and the works of this world, but Sunday is for the Spirit and the works of God. It must not be so! Jesus said: I came to this earth to ignite a fire. This is the fire of the Spirit which must burn in order to purify. The Holy Spirit confronts the world, and the world cannot bear to hear him because he exposes its lies and shows the truth. So it is with each one of us. The Spirit will confront us and expose and burn our lies. At the same time, the Spirit burns in order to purify, and he ignites love in order to nourish hope. Hence, we approach repentance with sure steps, counting on God’s work in us.
What burns simultaneously destroys bad things and refines good things, like gold which is refined in the furnace of fire to be purified and cleansed. Repentance is like refined gold.
The repetitive action of the Spirit-fire in me leads me to the fullness of freedom. You know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
No liberation movement can lead to freedom without holiness or without the Spirit of God. The Late Fr Etienne Sacre said in one of his philosophy lectures: Communists used to criticize capitalism by claiming that “capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. It is not so with us.” True freedom is what God gives through his Spirit.
Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote his letter the Philippians, as if he were freer than many people who are not imprisoned.
The Spirit-water: we use water for irrigation. Wherever there is water, there are fruits. So, whereas we are given life through wind and are purified and cleansed by fire, we become fruitful thanks to water.
The Spirit works from many angles. Fruit is the natural product of the work of the farmer and the work of grace. When nature is favorable and the soil good; when we prune, clean, irrigate, and wait–especially when we wait–the fruits of the spirit arrive.
The eye is gladdened, the body nourished, and the spirit consoled. Then fruits appear.
We know what the fruits of the Spirit are. They are listed in the Bible, and there is no room for confusion there.
The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These things are not seen. I cannot see the Spirit, but when I see you love, be patient, or forgive, I recognize that the Spirit of God is in you and that you allow him to work and manifest through you.
How do I obstruct the work of the Spirit in me? By blaspheming against him.
Jesus says: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Why?
Jesus Christ took on the vulnerability of our humanity and perhaps thought to himself: “Man may be scandalized by my vulnerability or may not recognize me or accept me in my vulnerability.” He forgave his crucifiers, saying: forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.
The Holy Spirit is the voice of God. He is God who touches the heart and guides to the fullness of inerrant truth. It is like an inextinguishable light. If you see light before your eyes and unashamedly insist that it is darkness, then this is called blasphemy. Things are clear before you, but you wonder where the truth is, and you deny it. More than simply denying the truth, you become entrenched in your sin. Not only you reject the truth but also the invitation of the Holy Spirit to repent.
This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus says in Mt 12: this sin will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. This statement reminds us that there are sins that will be forgiven in the age to come.
This is our belief about forgiveness.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rooted in obstinacy. In a biblical parable, a father asks both his sons to go work in the vineyard; the first son said yes and did not go to work, and the second one said no but went anyway. Which of the two sons did his father’s will? The second one, who was inspired by the Spirit, saw the truth, listened to the truth, and acted according to the truth to which the Spirit led him.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is refusing to be led by the Spirit of God in this life. Therefore, whoever willfully decides to distance himself, not to do the work of the Father, and not to come to the Father, how can he be near God in eternity? It is not God who does not forgive this sin in eternity, but it is I who decides not to be with God by rejecting his representative and ambassador, the Spirit. God’s presence in me is the presence of the Holy Spirit. I expel him, as if I’m saying to him: I do not want you in this life and definitely not in the next life. I decide to reject him with full awareness and free-will. Hence, God cannot impose himself on me in this life or the next.
God allows me to expel his Spirit, deny it, and scorn it. I take full responsibility for that, because none of this was forced upon me.
We often say: God created you without your consent, but he does not save you without your full consent. Amen.
(Note: This talk is based on notes and audio recordings, and is, therefore, rather colloquial).
Glory be to God.
Paul’s conversion is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Church gave St. Ephrem the title of “Harp of the Holy Spirit” because he spoke of God eloquently and praised his name, and that because the Holy Spirit was working in him.
In the biblical account of Pentecost–when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples who started speaking in tongues–, those who witnessed the event thought that the disciples were inebriated. But Peter replied to them: these men are not inebriated.
However, I believe that Peter should have rather replied that these men are not inebriated–at least, not in the usual way people get drunk from earthly wine–, but they are full of the Holy Spirit, instead of wine, and are intoxicated with the ecstasy of love, whose gifts overflow and which manifests through its fruits. If only you would share in this drunkenness, which does not result in a hangover but opens our eyes to the lights of eternal glory!
The Holy Spirit is the hero of this story, but an ineffable one. In the Trinitarian family, the Father has an earthly analogue, albeit a very flawed one. For when I call “Father!”, both my earthly and heavenly fathers answer me.
When we speak of the Son, we know what it means for someone to have a son. But when we speak of the Spirit, we can only depict him through his work. Hence, we recognize the presence (or absence) of the Holy Spirit through his work and fruits.
John says that the Holy Spirit is like the wind: you do not know where it blows, where it comes from, or where it is going. Yet, we feel its presence and absence.
You are familiar with the symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Bible. I would like to connect them to our daily lives, which means talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in us rather than about the dogma of the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit in us is unmistakable because we experience it. It is symbolized by water, fire, and wind–three things connected to our daily spiritual life. What these symbols have in common is that neither water, fire, nor wind have a definite shape. Water takes the shape of the vessel it is in. Vessels are many but the content is one. So it is with the work of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us is different, but the Holy Spirit in us distributes his gifts in a way to embellish best its vessel, so that whoever beholds the vessel glorifies God for it. The Holy Spirit takes the shape and volume of the available vessel. Nevertheless, each of these symbols (water, fire, and wind) has its own characteristics. Meditating on these characteristics allows us to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Because the Holy Spirit is amorphous and immaterial, his work is internal. He works in the immaterial part of us, that is, our spiritual life. Nonetheless, this internal work brewing inside us is reflected outwardly through its fruits.
St Paul says: it is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I cannot contain Christ who is infinitely bigger than me, but the Spirit of Christ lives in me and guides me. We must not separate between Christ and his Spirit, who is a gift from him. Jesus breathed on his disciples on Pentecost and said to them on the day of the resurrection (John 20): receive the Holy Spirit. Whomever you forgive, his sins are forgiven…
This Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, if the Spirit of Jesus lives in me, Jesus himself lives in me, and I start to be configured to him.
The descent of the Holy Spirit on us is made visible in baptism. In baptism, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and we become his temples. As was Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, so am I filled with him, and I will do the works of the Son and greater works than these (John 14:12-14). We are supported by the Son and the Spirit of the Son. The Father promised us that he would not refuse a request made in his Son’s name. However, we must have faith.
Jesus worked under the guidance, and with the power, of the Holy Spirit who never departed from him, not even for a second. The Holy Spirit led him to the desert where he was tempted. He returned to the synagogue where he said: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he anointed me and sent me. Jesus also exorcised demons by the Holy Spirit. He communicates to the Father through the Spirit. Therefore, Jesus led his life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit which fills him and which he gives to us, so that we may walk his same path. The successor works in the same Spirit as the predecessor.
We work in the same Spirit, meaning, under the same guidance and with the same thoughts as our Founder, Jesus. We follow Jesus’ actions verbatim, to the end, and with the same Spirit which we receive in baptism. The Spirit dwells in us and transforms us.
The Holy Spirit was limited to Jesus, but, on Pentecost, Jesus gave his Spirit to the Church so that whoever believe in him can do the works he does.
The Holy Spirit is mine, he dwells in me and is alive. Here we must distinguish between Spirit, soul, and conscience.
Christians and non-Christians alike have a conscience. This is God’s voice in us. It is the power to discern between good and evil.
The soul is created by God and is not material but spiritual. I am born with a human soul, but the soul is created by God and is called to return to him. The Holy Spirit is God and is uncreated. When the Holy Spirit enters me, I receive the power to sanctify myself. If conscience is a power of discernment, the Spirit is a power of sanctification. The Holy Spirit encompasses all dimensions: it enters the body and sanctifies it, enters the soul and sanctifies it, and enters the conscience and enlightens it. It unifies all these dimensions.
The Holy Spirit unifies us, and not only as a community, but as individuals: it unifies all the powers which are fragmented in each of us. Unless the Holy Spirit enters me and unifies me, I would be unable to witness to the One God.
My body drags me down, the soul pulls me up, and my conscience is confused. The Holy Spirit purifies and unifies all three of them.
The wind symbol: it is connected to breath. When there is no air, one stops breathing and dies. Life depends on breathing. When I speak of life, I speak of the Holy Spirit as defense and principal agent through my prayers and reading of the Holy Bible.
Philip asked the minister of the Queen of Ethiopia: do you understand what you read? The minister replied: How can I, unless someone explains it to me?
As soon as Philip explained to him about the Holy Spirit, he understood him thanks to the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus opened the eyes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he gave them the gift of opening their minds to understand Scripture.
This is a Spirit of understanding and knowledge who helps me understand and pray. St Paul says: the Holy Spirit prays in you in ineffable groanings. He cries through us: “Abba, Father” (Spirit of sonhood and daughterhood). Paul exhorts us: Allow yourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and sing together psalms, praise, and spiritual hymns. Sing and glorify the Lord in your hearts, and thank God the Father at every moment, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you.
For when we are filled with the Spirit, we can pray and participate in the Divine Liturgy. In Liturgy, the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit is very important and well emphasized. It is as if we have been waiting for this moment when we say: “Hear us, O Lord; Hear us, O Lord.” In this moment, the priest feels that he is the most powerful creature on earth, despite his limitedness, because he is calling on the Holy Spirit to descend on the offering on the altar and make it the body and blood of the Lord, and to transform the world into the Church of the Lord and his Mystical body. The Holy Spirit intervenes at our request, and we say in response: “How awesome is this moment.”
The fire symbol: I connect it to spiritual struggle.
We inhabit a weak body. The body is, by nature, good. God did not create it bad. Yet, its state worsens when it competes with the Spirit.
I must use my body and honor it, but I must also make it worship what is beyond itself, that is, the Spirit.
I must not make my body the object of my worship, for this is a form of idolatry, or the worship of created things. The state of the body worsens when it becomes the center of our worship. St Paul says: Live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.
So, fire symbolizes the purifying role of the Spirit. Fire burns and purifies. It is unmistakable. There are contradictory emotions in me, and I must burn some and keep others. I cannot forego all of my emotions. Some say: Do whatever you want on weekdays, and confess to the priest on Sunday; that way, during the week you put on the mask of the body and the works of this world, but Sunday is for the Spirit and the works of God. It must not be so! Jesus said: I came to this earth to ignite a fire. This is the fire of the Spirit which must burn in order to purify. The Holy Spirit confronts the world, and the world cannot bear to hear him because he exposes its lies and shows the truth. So it is with each one of us. The Spirit will confront us and expose and burn our lies. At the same time, the Spirit burns in order to purify, and he ignites love in order to nourish hope. Hence, we approach repentance with sure steps, counting on God’s work in us.
What burns simultaneously destroys bad things and refines good things, like gold which is refined in the furnace of fire to be purified and cleansed. Repentance is like refined gold.
The repetitive action of the Spirit-fire in me leads me to the fullness of freedom. You know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
No liberation movement can lead to freedom without holiness or without the Spirit of God. The Late Fr Etienne Sacre said in one of his philosophy lectures: Communists used to criticize capitalism by claiming that “capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. It is not so with us.” True freedom is what God gives through his Spirit.
Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote his letter the Philippians, as if he were freer than many people who are not imprisoned.
The Spirit-water: we use water for irrigation. Wherever there is water, there are fruits. So, whereas we are given life through wind and are purified and cleansed by fire, we become fruitful thanks to water.
The Spirit works from many angles. Fruit is the natural product of the work of the farmer and the work of grace. When nature is favorable and the soil good; when we prune, clean, irrigate, and wait–especially when we wait–the fruits of the spirit arrive.
The eye is gladdened, the body nourished, and the spirit consoled. Then fruits appear.
We know what the fruits of the Spirit are. They are listed in the Bible, and there is no room for confusion there.
The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These things are not seen. I cannot see the Spirit, but when I see you love, be patient, or forgive, I recognize that the Spirit of God is in you and that you allow him to work and manifest through you.
How do I obstruct the work of the Spirit in me? By blaspheming against him.
Jesus says: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Why?
Jesus Christ took on the vulnerability of our humanity and perhaps thought to himself: “Man may be scandalized by my vulnerability or may not recognize me or accept me in my vulnerability.” He forgave his crucifiers, saying: forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.
The Holy Spirit is the voice of God. He is God who touches the heart and guides to the fullness of inerrant truth. It is like an inextinguishable light. If you see light before your eyes and unashamedly insist that it is darkness, then this is called blasphemy. Things are clear before you, but you wonder where the truth is, and you deny it. More than simply denying the truth, you become entrenched in your sin. Not only you reject the truth but also the invitation of the Holy Spirit to repent.
This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus says in Mt 12: this sin will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. This statement reminds us that there are sins that will be forgiven in the age to come.
This is our belief about forgiveness.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rooted in obstinacy. In a biblical parable, a father asks both his sons to go work in the vineyard; the first son said yes and did not go to work, and the second one said no but went anyway. Which of the two sons did his father’s will? The second one, who was inspired by the Spirit, saw the truth, listened to the truth, and acted according to the truth to which the Spirit led him.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is refusing to be led by the Spirit of God in this life. Therefore, whoever willfully decides to distance himself, not to do the work of the Father, and not to come to the Father, how can he be near God in eternity? It is not God who does not forgive this sin in eternity, but it is I who decides not to be with God by rejecting his representative and ambassador, the Spirit. God’s presence in me is the presence of the Holy Spirit. I expel him, as if I’m saying to him: I do not want you in this life and definitely not in the next life. I decide to reject him with full awareness and free-will. Hence, God cannot impose himself on me in this life or the next.
God allows me to expel his Spirit, deny it, and scorn it. I take full responsibility for that, because none of this was forced upon me.
We often say: God created you without your consent, but he does not save you without your full consent. Amen.
