“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:13).
With these words, Jesus wants us to understand how natural it is for God to hear our prayers when we ask Him for the Holy Spirit. And the Lord uses an excellent comparison: even we human beings, who are prone to evil, do not turn a deaf ear to our children’s requests when they ask us for something good.
And what request could be more important than that for the Holy Spirit? This infinite gift is not only granted to us for our personal journey of salvation, but, in His generosity, our Father wishes to pour it out upon all humanity. This is what we see in today’s solemnity, in which we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit, who transformed the Lord’s apostles into heralds of the message of salvation for all people. And this same Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, has been given to us as a living memory that reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26).
Poured into our hearts, the Spirit cries out: “Abba, beloved Father” (cf. Rom 8:15) and thus invites us into the most intimate communion with our divine Father. The great, holy, and living God wants us to address Him by the most tender name, so that we may grasp more deeply our vocation as His children. He Himself will give us everything necessary so that we may live as such, and He does so quite naturally. The Holy Spirit utters the holy name of Father within us and becomes effective when we open the door of our heart to Him.
Without a doubt, we can turn to our Father and ask Him that the Holy Spirit may act powerfully in our lives. God will not disregard such a request, for He Himself has sown in our hearts the longing for the Comforter.