"How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" -Luke 11:13
I received the Holy Spirit at my Baptism as an infant and at my Confirmation as a thirteen-year-old. As a young adult, I participated in a Life in the Spirit seminar and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience transformed my life. The Spirit opened my mind to understand the Bible (Lk 24:45). After receiving the Spirit in this new way, Scripture jumped off the page for me. God's Word became so real that it was as if I could see everything along with the original biblical authors. In the decades that followed, the Holy Spirit has given me gifts, such as prophecy and teaching, which help change others' lives. I praise and thank God, the Holy Spirit, for dwelling in me and in so many others in the Church!
Matthew's Gospel reads, "how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to anyone who asks Him!" (Mt 7:11) Luke, however, replaces "good things" with the "Holy Spirit" (Lk 11:13). The Holy Spirit also:
* convicts us of our sins (Jn 16:8), fights against our flesh (Gal 5:17), and leads us to holiness, if we are docile to Him,
* guides us to all truth (Jn 16:13),
* overcomes sin (Gal 5:16) and fear (2 Tm 1:6-8),
* leads us to pray (Rm 8:26), praise, and worship the Lord in power and awe,
* brings unity with our families and the Church (Eph 4:3).
"Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22) and "do not stifle the Spirit" (1 Thes 5:19). "Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's lead" (Gal 5:25). Come, Holy Spirit!
Holy Spirit, lead the Church to a new Pentecost.
"For you who fear My name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays." -Mal 3:20
1 comment:
I agree with you. I first experienced the power of the Holy Spirit one evening just over twenty years ago. My 3 children were little and were in their beds in the room where we all slept. I was sitting at the desk with a lamp on. I'd been trying to learn how to pray for healing by reading a book about it by Agnes Sanford. I knew healing in the name of Jesus Christ was possible because I had prayed from my heart for a child to be healed and he was. (I'd used Lourdes water while praying.) Anyway, I was asking the Holy Spirit to come. And he did. It is very difficult to describe. I was overpowered by God's love and didn't want to move. I just stayed basking in his love. Later on I was baptized in the Spirit. On many occasions that overpowering rushing in of more of the Holy Spirit has happened again. The Holy Spirit brings great peace, joy and healing. The Word of God pierces your heart with Christ's love, truth, wisdom (and sometimes prophecy)once you have been aware of the Holy Spirit's presence in you, in others and in situations. His presence equips you for the spiritual battle that we are in. I wish I had known him on my Confirmation day 47 years ago. I'm glad my children did. It's such a pity that those in Charismatic Renewal are labelled happy-clappy. You can be a Catholic who loves pre-Vatican II Mass, for example, or who avoids seventies 'folk Masses', preferring a sung Latin Mass, and still be open to the action of the Holy Spirit. The time when his presence is the most distilled and powerful is at and after absolution, at the Consecration and at adoration. But he also takes over at other times if we open our hearts to him.
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