16. Holy Spirit in the Church

Our Church should shine brighdy in our souls and Her sacred treasure be preserved in our hearts throughout the course of our earthly life, that those who do not yet know about life in the Church may say, щGod is with you of a truth.”

According to our Holy Father Seraphim of Sarov, the meaning and purpose of our life is to acquire the Holy Spirit, that is, to always have the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts, minds and souls, in our every word and deed. St. Seraphim said that in order to do this, we must always pray. Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, confessor to the Russian Royal Family, exhorts us: “To ensure that quality in prayer might prevail over quantity, one must devote all of one’s life and all of one’s duties to thought of God, and one must do everything for God’s sake... A Christian must not reject his life, but transform it. When the sun rises in the earthly sky, all of nature is transformed. Similarly, when contemplation of God is established in our heart, it, like the sun, begins to light up and transform our whole life. Such a life not only does not get in the way of prayer, but leads us to prayer and in such a life even the briefest prayer is ardent.” So, when we come to church, let us enter with a warm-hearted, fervent prayer that the Holy Spirit will be with us, so that we may enter and abide forever in our Heavenly Homeland, the Kingdom of Triumphant Orthodoxy.