Archpriest Vitalian (Drobotun)

Glory to Jesus Christ, dear brothers and siters!

I congratulate you with the feast of Holy Trinity, with consecration of your souls and acceptance of Holy Communion.

We have head the Acts of Saint Apostles (Acts II:1-11) where the Lord promised His Apostles that the Savior will come and console their souls. But He told them to gather all together on fifty day. They had to pray together, not just alone.

And we heard that the Holy Spirit rested on Apostles in the form of divided tongues as of fire and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. God blessed them with His gifts and it was a great miracle. They knew and spoke Judaic language and suddenly they started to speak other languages. There were languages of foreign people. And, of course, people from other lands were surprised to hear their native languages. How could Jews speak other languages?

But we know that the Lord can do everything. He can bless every man with great gifts. And it can be not only the knowledge of foreign languages, but others. And we know that the Lord gave Apostles other gifts too. When we read Acts of Saint Apostles we can find out about Paul, Peter and other Apostles. The Lord worked through them: they healed people, they preached and made unbelievable miracles.

And we can make a conclusion: why did Jesus told them to gather together? He asked to gather together, because the promise would come true and the Holy Spirit would come. We also can think: lets gather together. So we came here, we prayed together, received the Holy Communion together and consecrated together. We can feel that our souls are filled with the Holy Spirit. We can’t see the fire tongues, we do not hear the noise or earthquake, but we have harmony in our souls and our heart is filled with the Holy Spirit.

We can think: “How can we understand that the Holy Spirit rested on us?” We can understand that in a very simple way. If our soul feels God’s Love, Good, blessing. And you do not understand how it happened. You did not eat or drink, or go to the disco club. So, why do you have so good mood? Why do you feel so much love in your soul, heart? This all comes from the Holy Spirit.

God blesses us when we pray together. God blesses us when we gather together and pray, because the power of our prayer multiples, it becomes stronger and stronger. We can pray at home every day, but we cant feel that grace, that spiritual power of God’s blessing at home, only in Temple, when we pray all together. That is why Our Lord Jesus Christ told His Apostles to gather together.

When they gathered, they did not just drink tea and eat biscuits and waited for the coming of Holy Spirit. They communicated, I think, they talked about Jesus and His knowledge, which He preached them. I think, they prayed and asked that the Holy Spirit, which was promised, rest on them and console their souls and hearts. And the Lord kept His promise.

So, the Lord will bless us too, dear brothers and sisters, if we gather together to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to be with us, that God do not leave us. That the Lord give us strength to follow Him in very difficult situations and despite all trials. And we will gain the victory with God help. The Lord will help us to build the Heavenly Kingdom in our souls first of all and when in our family and Ukraine.

Glory to Jesus Christ.