The Holy Spirit: a gift from God

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. A gift is a present; it does not belong to you. It is He who has given it to us. Nor is it a right. It is quite simply that: a gift.

Jesus wanted to give it to us. To receive it, we do not have to pay; we simply need to be ready, to open ourselves up to welcome it. This gift is God’s strength, that capacity God gives us to live our lives with serenity, peace, joy… and great inner strength—the kind that comes from the very depths of our being and which no one can take away from us.

The Church was born out of this strength. Once they had received it, the disciples were freed from fear and immediately their tongues were loosened to proclaim what their hearts felt. They were not afraid to risk their lives, for they were in God’s hands. God’s strength opens the doors of the Upper Room, of Jerusalem, of Samaria, reaching to the ends of the earth.

Thanks to this power, and to those who allowed themselves to be guided by it, we experience God’s love in our lives today. What a privilege!

Being a witness is not something that can be improvised overnight. It is something one becomes. It is not the result of a sudden flash of inspiration. Rather, it is the result of daily work, carried out each day with one’s gaze and heart fixed on God. The starting point lies in this fundamental experience: ‘Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart to serve me. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’ (Jer 1:5). And the realisation that follows: ‘Before I was formed in my mother’s womb, you already knew me, Lord’ (Ps 139:15–16). To feel loved by the Lord, even before you set foot in this world, even if you were not wanted by your own parents. To the Lord, you are unique and no one else can take your place.

Until you have felt God’s love in your life, you will not be a witness. It is when you realise that ‘you are precious in the Lord’s sight’ and that you mean a great deal to Him (Isaiah 43:4), that an extraordinary strength wells up from the depths of your heart—a strength you had not known until that moment. It is this strength that will set your tongue, your feet and your heart free. As the beautiful passage from Isaiah says: ‘Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31)

‘And to the ends of the earth’. Do not forget all those who do not yet know the Way, the Truth and the Life, not because they have rejected him, but because no witness has yet dared to speak to them about him (Rom 10:13–17).

Today, you and I have become Christians, witnesses to God’s love, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit and to the witnesses who have passed it on to us.

Happy Pentecost!

Father Fernando Garcia