28. Слово на Пятидесятницу (Что принесем мы в дар Господу, ниспославшему нам дар Святого Духа? Если будем возгревать дар Божий – дух, он не угаснет, если не оскорбим его, он пребудет в нас. А с ним и все обилие и полнота жизни духовной. А для этого надо пребывать в молитвенном и подвижническом труде

The Holy Church brightly and solemnly celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. And how can she not celebrate? Because the Church of God was actually created by the Holy Spirit on the foundation laid in the Lord Jesus Christ; By Him the mysteries of the Kingdom and all Christian teaching were finally revealed and clarified to the apostles, by Him all tongues were conquered and brought into obedience to the faith, by Him were given all the powers, including life and piety, by Him were uttered all the statutes and institutions for the restoration, strengthening and protection of believers, by Him has the guarantee of our salvation been preserved intact and intact to this day. Remembering this great work of God, the Holy Church cannot help but rejoice and sing. But, brethren, let us not forget that every soul is alive by the Holy Spirit, that each of us has become a partaker of His grace, has received the gift and seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. What will we bring now as a gift to the Lord, who has benefited us so much? It is good, of course, to celebrate and rejoice in the Holy Church, sending thanks to the Lord for His ineffable gift of sending the Holy Spirit, and it is good to gratefully remember our own blessings. But is that all? - No. It is not enough to recognize the gift and see its beauty; one must also include the proper use of the gift according to the intention of the Gift Giver. We are not called to just be called spiritual, but to actually be such, so that the Spirit of God lives and acts in us, fills us, possesses us. The Lord does everything so that we can be spiritualized: He revives us in Baptism, seals us in Confirmation, absolves us from sins in Repentance, sincerely unites us with Himself in Communion, and in general, waters us abundantly with the waters of grace. Let us, on our part, do what we can and what we must, and we will apply as much zeal to it as is necessary for us to be filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. For “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). What is it that we need to do? The presence of the Spirit of God in the heart and the action of His grace in us is evidenced by heartfelt warmth towards God - sober, tender, reverent. And so we need to do everything that can excite and maintain this warmth, and move away from everything that can scatter and cool our heart towards God, obeying the commandment of the Apostle who speaks! “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph. 4:30), and in another place commands “to warm up the gift of God” (2 Tim. 1:6). If we warm Him up, He will not go out; if we do not offend Him, He will remain in us, and with Him all the abundance and fullness of spiritual life. How to achieve this? Firstly, one must remain unswervingly in all the rites and order of the Church, or in prayerful and ascetic labor according to the rites and rules of the Holy Church. Here we mean the observance of fasts, frequent fasting and communion of the Holy Mysteries, all other prayerful consecrations, going to the churches of God for all services, not only on holidays, but at any time when business allows, home prayers, listening and reading the word of God, conversations with pious people, obedience to the spiritual father, in general everything that is established in the Church for the creation of spiritual life in us, or the vestment of oneself and one’s entire life churchliness. The grace of the Holy Spirit that we received in the sacraments is the same as a spark that penetrates into some substance. As here, in order for a substance to ignite from a spark, air is needed, so if it is not there, the spark will go out; so in us, in order for the spark of grace that fell into our nature through the sacraments to turn into a spiritual flame, we need to surround ourselves with spiritual air (atmosphere), and the entire church structure serves as such air. Just as a spark is fanned by the movement of air (wind) into a flame, so through churchliness - this spiritual wind - the power of the grace of the Spirit of God is kindled in us. “Be filled with the Spirit,” the Apostle commands, “speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19). The more diligently and reverently someone walks in this rite, the sooner his heart warms and the spirit of grace ignites; on the contrary, whoever moves away from the Church will soon extinguish the grace of the Spirit, cool down and die out again, just as a fire dies out in an airless place. To this work of prayer or works of piety we must also add, secondly, the work of good deeds - giving alms, showing compassion, enduring insults, defending the oppressed, observing the truth, abstaining from anger, envy, condemnation and all lust, in general doing every good deed to which the Lord obliges us in our lives and in our circumstances. For if we want to live by the Spirit, “let us walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). Just as natural forces weaken and are upset from their lack of exercise, so the grace of the Spirit is reduced and completely withdraws when we do not exercise in the deeds inherent in it, we do not give it scope to act in us and penetrate us, and, what is even worse, if we drive it away from ourselves by deeds contrary to it. For just as bees fly away from smoke, so does the grace of the Spirit fly away from the smoke of vicious deeds and passions. Therefore, the Apostle, having said: “Do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are marked on the day of deliverance,” then adds: “Let all grief, and anger, and wrath, and cry, and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice” (Eph. 4:30-31), indicating the deeds by which the Spirit of God is offended. The grace of the Spirit of God is pure. In order to keep it with us, we must keep the house of our heart clean and in a fitting decoration, and this decoration constitutes a union of various virtues... “Be clothed, therefore,” the Apostle commands, “to be holy and beloved of God’s choices, in the womb of generosity: kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, accepting one another, and forgiving yourself, if anyone blames anyone... Over all of these, acquire love, which is the basis of perfection, and let the peace of God rest in your hearts... and be grateful... Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly... and whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father” (Col. 3:12-17). This is the decoration of the church of the heart suitable for the dwelling of the Spirit of God. We will walk in these deeds, and grace will be inherent in us, and its fire will never go out in us. But, brothers, it seems we are already doing all this. We go to the churches of God and perform the usual prayers at home, we do not refuse to help on occasion or do any good to our brother in need, and yet we still do not see that our heart burns with spiritual fire and shows the power of its presence within us. What else is missing? Let's take a closer look at our deeds and see what we still lack. We say prayers and do some good; but then we meet only by chance, now we are ready to do something not good, we indulge passions, we succumb to the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eye: and what comes out in our life is a mixture of good and evil. And this is the same as setting fire to wood and then pouring water on it: will it ever catch fire? Apparently, we lack zeal or selfless determination to work for the Lord in all its fullness, without indulgence or self-pity, with a readiness for all labors and sacrifices. We also stand in prayer at home or in the church of God, and our thoughts wander here and there: who reads books, who settles scores, who builds enterprises, who sorts out everyday household affairs; and it turns out that we are standing as if in the wind, and in the wind will a candle burn! Apparently, we lack attention to ourselves, sobriety and composure. We do not listen to the apostolic instructions: to gird up the loins of our thoughts, to be sober and watchful, and to pay attention to ourselves; and the grace of the Spirit of God is not introduced into us. And yet, we do some good deed, but the heart is carried away either by vanity, or man-pleasing, or some selfish calculation and defiles our good deed, takes away its value and turns away the face of God from it. Our heart at this time is like a place that emits a stench from which everyone runs. Will the grace of God abide in such a heart?! Apparently, we lack observation of the movements of the heart, the readiness to cast off all wrong feelings and devote all deeds to the glory of God, we lack the fear of God, the memory of His omnipresence and walking before His face. You see what is often lacking in our prayer work and good deeds. Let us make up for these shortcomings. It's not enough to deal with; It is also necessary to have good thoughts and feelings when doing things, to have the art of controlling the movements of your heart, which the Holy Fathers call attention, sobriety, and inner activity. It concentrates all our forces together and is therefore the most powerful means for kindling in us the grace of the Spirit of God. The scattered rays of the sun do not light up by themselves; but when they are gathered into one point by means of a burning glass, they quickly ignite any flammable substance. The same thing happens in us. When we do not pay attention to ourselves, our thoughts and feelings are scattered, but when we pay attention, they gather together, and then warmth is kindled in our heart from the thought of the Lord, who is omnipresent and fulfills everything. So, paying attention to ourselves and intelligently standing before the Lord in our hearts, let us walk in the commandments of God and in the entire structure of the church—and the grace of the Spirit will burn unquenchably in us. The fire of the Spirit will then consume everything unclean, and we will be built into the habitation of God by this spirit. Only all this must be done together. If something is missing, then this missing thing will ruin what is there, and especially if there is a lack of attention to the movements of the heart and prudence. Here is a close example of this! We are praying now and will pray tomorrow. The merciful Lord, depending on the zeal of those praying, will send warmth to others and warm the heart. It will be a movement of the Spirit of grace. But if later we are not careful and either at the table we consume too much, or we indulge in immoderate sleep, or we go to have fun in the parks, or we enter into riotous camaraderie, or we go to see booths and theaters - these demonic plays, then all the warmth collected here will leave us, we will remain empty and cold again and, perhaps, more than before. And who is to blame? - One of our indiscretions. We should sit at home, engage in the thought of God, not forget abstinence, and if we go somewhere, then to a pious person for a brotherly conversation, but we rush to such customs that were invented by the misanthrope - the prince of the world of vanity. So it is in many other cases. And it turns out that we create with one hand and destroy with the other. What's the use of this? - Only work... From now on, let us set out to do the work of preserving and warming up the grace-filled life within ourselves - fully, without letting up or weakening! The Lord be a helper to all of us. 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