Whitsunday - 29 May 1955 / 21 May 1961

Today is Whitsunday – the day on which we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Creed, the prayers and the lessons, all tell us how much we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for our daily life as Christians. In the Creed, which we all joined in saying, we referred to the Holy Spirit as the one who inspired the prophets to deliver their message from time to time - ‘who spake by the prophets’. In the Collect for today we refer to the same activity of the Spirit. The Spirit is thought of as the source of man’s capacity to form right judgments; in other words as the divine source of guidance.

This morning let us concentrate on this aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work. He illuminates our minds, and guides us to make the right judgments. In the world today there is so much confusion and perplexity. There is a genuine desire among people and nations to take the path which would lead to stability and happiness. But they do not know which way they should go. There are many rival systems each promising to give the security and happiness which all men desire to have. One is at a loss to know which way one should go. It is to those who are thus perplexed, that the Christian Gospel points the way to the solution. Christianity presents to men the revealed truth about God, and offers to them by illuminating their minds and questioning their spiritual insight, the guidance they need as they strive to solve their corporate problems.

For the individual also the Spirit is the source of guidance. To have a right judgment in all things is an ideal which might seem to be difficult to attain. We are called upon to make so many personal decisions in life, and often we do not know what to choose. But in our Christian faith we have a guiding light, a standard of reference, and we have the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds. With these resources we can make a better choice than we would otherwise. The inner light will enable those who possess it to exercise intuitively a right judgment.

If our prayer for a right judgment is genuine, the prayer will bring us who offer it into a receptive attitude towards that Spirit which guides men into truth – truth about God, about human existence and destiny, and about the way of life whose end is God’s glory and His kingdom.