A young lady revealed to me recently the impact the church lockdown had on her and how very happy she is that worship is open again. A feeling that all of our fellow parishioners share. It is in our church that we feel the presence of our Lord and it is in the church that we are able to connect and are united with Him through the sacraments of the Church. It is in our church divine services that we are assured of His Love and we are comforted and strengthened. It is there that we are renewed and sanctified.

A very sound and wise advice and warning to all of us from our Lord Christ. These "false prophets" that our Savior mentions can easily deceive others, those imposters of virtue and piety are more dangerous than those who are evil outright. These are referred to in the secular world as "confidence men" or "con-men". One can find them in every walk of life, i.e., politics, religious leaders, educators, business, science, sales, etc.

Among the gifts which the one who receives the gift of the Holy Spirit is endowed in the saintly life, when the person struggles to keep God's commandments to the highest degree and to live in purity of soul and body, the married life in Christ within the social customs, the pastoral diaconate in Christ with its many cares, etc. In other words, all the gifts of grace that the Holy Spirit grants. Thus the Holy Spirit "wholly makes up the institution of the Church", which is the Body of Christ.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost does not indicate that the Holy Spirit was previously absent from the earth and from people, but that, as we mentioned before, the Holy Spirit operates in a different way. We can offer two points that interpret the Descent of the Holy Spirit and His different energy.

Before Christ ascended into Heaven He gave a command to His Disciples to return to Jerusalem after His Ascension and remain there until they were invested with power from Heaven. Thus He gave them the promise that they would receive the Holy Spirit, about which He had spoken during His life.