Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the  Gospel for Sunday, May 24, 2026,  entitled, “ Receive the Holy Spirit ”

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Today we celebrate Pentecost  . The  Paschal Mystery  culminates with the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary and the Apostles.

Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate today that  the Lord fulfills his promise and sends the gift of the Holy Spirit  upon the apostles with Mary who are gathered in the upper room, praying, locked  in fear and sadness, but now  they receive a new vision and an understanding of the heart  that helps them to interpret the events that have taken place and to have an intimate experience of the presence of the Risen One:  the Holy Spirit conquers their fear , breaks the inner chains, soothes the wounds, anoints them with strength and gives them the courage to go out to meet everyone to proclaim the works of God  (cf. Leo XIV).

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate gift, the gift of God,  and today’s celebration reminds us of a fundamental truth of our lives: that  everything is grace , that everything is a gift, that you do not give life to yourself, that you are not God, that you  need the gift of the Holy Spirit in order to live .

Pentecost is the feast of the  New Covenant,  with a law written by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers.

Fifty days after Easter,  the Church receives the gift of the Holy Spirit,  God’s highest gift to humanity , the supreme witness, therefore, of his love for us, a love that is concretely expressed as the “yes to life” that God desires for each of his creatures  (cf. Benedict XVI,  Message for World Youth Day 2008 ) . The Holy Spirit is  given to us for our  sanctification : so that we may live in total identification with Christ, and,  remaining in him,  bear abundant fruit.

The Holy Spirit gives us his  gifts  to  sustain  and  enliven  our Christian life  , our path to holiness. These gifts are permanent inner attitudes that make us docile to the promptings of the Spirit. These  seven  gifts  are:  wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

These are  gifts  that we cannot obtain through our own efforts, but  which we receive  freely in our baptism :  sanctifying grace grants us the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through his gifts (cf.  Catechism  1266).

Therefore, the Word of God that we proclaim today invites you to  live  according to the Spirit  and not  according to the flesh ; that is,  it invites you to welcome into your heart those gifts of the Spirit and to live the new life of the children of God.

If we accept these seven gifts into our hearts, and live animated by the impulse of the Spirit, following Jesus Christ as our only Teacher and only Lord,  the gifts of the Spirit produce  twelve  fruits in our lives , which are the work of the Spirit in our lives. These twelve fruits, according to the Tradition of the Church, are:  charity, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering  (steadfastness, perseverance),  goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity  (cf.  Gal  5:22-23).

This is also the time to ask ourselves what we are doing with the  charisms  we have received from the Holy Spirit, charisms we have received  to put at the service of others in the Church.  We cannot keep these charisms to ourselves;  they are not ours .  We have received them  so that they may bear fruit  for the benefit of others.

Take heart! God loves you and wants your happiness, and He gives you eternal life. Open your heart to Him so that the Holy Spirit can work the work of holiness within you.

Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit , especially where you feel you can’t cope with your life, where you experience drought, the parched land, dry, without water, where you feel your life is dead.

Come, Holy Spirit!