Holy Spirit Common Sense

I believe common sense and the help we receive from the Holy Spirit come from the same divine source. I imagine that how much real common sense we have is a measure of the Holy Spirit working in us. We also speak of human nature. At times our human nature messes us up by muddying our common sense. God understands human nature. He designed us. God designed our human nature for good but sadly our human nature and lack of common sense are often out of sync with God’s plan for us. We all know the story of the fall of mankind (sigh). God understands our problems. God knows when we’re trying to do the right thing. God is merciful. When we strive for goodness and holiness our natural lives (human nature) start to become supernatural. When we get closer to becoming a supernatural person, behaviors that kept us from getting close to God become transparent making us aware of our faults, our deficiency in holiness, or to put it simply, our unholiness. When we become aware of our sinfulness, aware that we may be lacking in common sense, when we become aware of personal roadblocks to God it becomes easier for us to follow the will of God. It is essential to follow the will of God. The key to holiness and happiness is to accept and follow God’s. I claim to have 100% unconditional, love and trust in God. I’ve made this claim many times. It’s on the tip of my tongue, “I have 100% unconditional love and trust in God!” I understand that saying this and thinking this doesn’t necessarily make it true but it helps me remember that I desire it to be true, I sincerely want to do the will of God. I know I’ll have doubts. I know I’ll fail. I know I’ll even panic and my faith will be shaken. This happens but I always manage to do a quick turn around when I remember all he’s done for me. I trust God and I do want to do his will.

Our Holy Spirit Common Sense will help us discern what God’s will is for us. We learn to take that which holds us down and turn it around. We’re lifted up in holiness when we learn to use the gifts God gave us. Is this common sense? Most certainly! With God’s help we begin to let go of our mistaken needs and wants such as our need to always be understood, our need to prove how smart we are and our unhealthy desire to win every argument. At times want to show how cool, clever or insightful we are. Perhaps we secretly want others to see how holy we are. If this is so then we might not be as holy as we think.

As the Holy Spirit continues to work in us, we may start to see a reflection of ourselves. It could be a vague reflection such as a reflection of ourselves on a glass door or seeing our reflection in a pond. These images help us towards understanding why we do what we do. Even better if we have a clear, distinct reflection of ourselves such as the reflection we see when facing a full length mirror? Now that we see ourselves clearly we’re ready to make changes. If our guardian angel is standing next to us or only slightly behind us, we may see our guardian angel in the reflection as well. Our guardian angel may begin to give us clues to our behavior by nodding and serenely smiling or giving us a frown. But what is the significance of this one dimensional image of ourselves? God made us much greater than this.

Have I gotten your attention!

When I spoke of seeing a reflection of ourselves I was speaking metaphorically, demonstrating how this Holy Spirit Common Sense works. We can’t really see our guardian angel. If you see a reflection of your guardian angel next time you look into a mirror please write about it.

Yet we must ask our guardian angel to help us overcome our faulty human nature. We aren’t always aware that we’re not being the supernatural person we’re meant to be. Just as our common sense becomes better, clearer, and more fine-tuned as we grow older the virtues and gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit at our baptism continue to work and grow in us the older we get. This is the natural progression if we haven’t fallen out of the grace of God. Yes, we can and will develop spiritually day by day if we stay in God’s grace and as we pray for Gods help, God gives us what we need as we need it.

Our guardian angel so desires for us to become a supernatural person but sometimes progress is slow. Please stay faithful and believe that all will be well. Our goal is for our humanity to catch up with our spirituality at the very least by the time we die so that we may share in the Divinity of Christ.

After writing this I opened my Kindle to do some spiritual reading. I have the Bible and several spiritual books to choose from to read from but this time I selected Reginald Garribou Lagrange “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life.” I began where I left off the last time. Very shortly after I started reading I came to this:

“According to the true teaching of Christ we are in an order far transcending natural morality. Our unaided reason tells us that it is our duty to love God, the author of our nature, and to love Him effectively that is by observing His Commandments. But even this natural duty we are unable to fulfill without the help of God’s grace, so weakened are our wills in consequence of original sin. Still less are we able by our natural powers alone to love God, the author of Grace, for this love is of an essentially supernatural order, as supernatural for the angels as it is for us.”

So it’s like the Holy Spirit is telling me I’m on the right track but I need a little help so he gave me this. I’m no Garrabou-Lagrange but I’m not concerned about being a great spiritual writer. What I want most is to learn and to grow by reading and writing, listening and taking notes and putting into practice what I learn with one desire, to be as close to God as I possibly can.

But sadly I can’t even appreciate being with family and friends. My faulty human nature kicks in and I treat others rudely. All those bad behaviors I listed above, wanting to show how clever I am, wanting to be understood, are about me. I’m the one that wonders if people see how holy and devout I am and this bothers me about myself most of all. I’m struggling to do God’s will. Once in the confessional my pastor told me in all seriousness that sometimes our spiritual father (priest) feels the need to pull one of us aside to talk to us (about something we do or say) and that he has thought pulling me aside a few times but let it go instead. I remember this with a little stab in my heart. Yet even this bitter memory can help me become a supernatural person if I accept it as a reminder to be Godlike, to ponder his goodness, to pause and reflect on how much he loves me. Be reassured that yes, we can all become the supernatural people God intended us to be if we use our Holy Spirit Common Sense.