Come Holy Spirit! Let us be amazed by this gift of the Holy Spirit that we received at baptism. He always prays in us, with us and without us. He is in us with his 7 gifts. We can unite, join his prayer at any time of the day. He has only one desire: to lead us to discover and live the one will of God. There is only love within of the Trinity. Love of Father and Son
The name Spirit designates two closely related things: the wind and the breath. These symbols help us understand what the Holy Spirit does, or rather what He is. “On the first day of the week, … Jesus comes, and he was there in the midst of them. He said to them, “Peace be with you” ! The disciples are filled with joy and Jesus says to them again: “Peace be with you. Just like Father r has sent me I also send you. “Having thus spoken, he breathed on them and He said to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit…”
When the Holy Spirit comes in the strong wind, in the thunder, it is power, freedom, transcendence of God unfolding.
When the Holy Spirit comes in the light breeze, it is goodness, the delicacy, the calm, the gentleness of God who comes upon us. It is tiring to walk or row against the wind, but how pleasant it is to let yourself carry by him. Without the Holy Spirit, everything is heavy, with Him, everything seems light. The wind, moreover, is fruitful. It transports the seeds of flowers or plants, deposits them in calyxes of other flowers or in the ground, then let them sprout. So does the Spirit with the Word of God (Experience of Lectio Di vina) When the warm spring wind blows, the flowers exhale their fragrance: the same in our soul when the Holy Spirit blows: we spread the good smell of Christ.
Wind is the only thing that cannot be bottled unlike water or energy. electricity that can be stored in a battery. The Holy Spirit cannot be fixed in definitions. It is always new. He creates and he animates. He blows where he wants. We don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. He distributes his gifts as he sees fit.
The wind is the most eloquent symbol of the freedom of the mind. The other symbol is that of the breath. What happens if you hold your breath too long ? “I’m out of air, I’m suffocating”. If we knew how to listen to the call of our soul when we go too long without praying, we would feel that she too begins to cry, “I no longer have of air, I suffocate. » When a person is about to pass out, they are advised: “Breathe well, breathe deeply. When our soul grows lukewarm, we no longer know how to pray, we must say to it: “My soul, breathe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires us.
St Francis de Sales gives us some criteria for discernment of inspirations.
1) Perseverance It is the attitude that agrees to last in order to bear fruit. Start each day, this is not to start something else again, it is to say your “yes” again and to move forward in the same line, continue to grow where we were sown.
2) Humble obedience Obedience in humility, unlike stubbornness in one’s own ideas. the humble obedience is the fruit of the Spirit. It is the key to true cooperation in the work of the Spirit: “Christ became obedient unto death and death on the cross. » In a 1620 sermon, Francis de Sales said: “The day of Pentecost having arrived, they were all together in the same place, when suddenly came from heaven a noise such as that with a violent gust of wind that filled the whole house where they were standing. They saw appear tongues that one would have said of fire: they were shared, and one rested on each of them. They were talking as the Spirit gave them… Each one heard them speak in his own idiom, in his own native language. »
It is in the language that the Church has all her strength. Who does not know that she operates all her mysteries by language ? Preaching is done by language but also by deeds, by the testimony of life. The word is given to us to communicate. We need to talk. We must be silent. The silence must give our word its full value. Fraternal exchanges are true only insofar as they are led by our silence, our prayer.
Bitterness has a dissolving action against which we must all fight together. Know how to be silent. Knowing how to say only what is positive… know how to listen if you want real communication with others. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for the day of Redemption. Sourness, anger, anger… All of this must be eradicated from you.
Look to imitate God.. . follow the path of love. » The Holy Spirit does not fail us. Jesus, who received it, gives it to us. But, it’s up to us to welcome it as St. Francis de Sales says: “Although the Holy-Spirit, as a spring of living water approaches from everywhere our heart to pour out his grace in him, however, not wanting it to enter into us if not by the free consent of our will, he will not give it except according to the measure of his good pleasure and at our own disposal and cooperation. T.L.G. 8/10
Source: Annecy Visitation Monastery, Superior