We Have a Gentle Guest and Friend Within Us (part 4 of 5)

We have a GENTLE GUEST and FRIEND within us (part 4 of 5)

How beautiful it would be if, in all our miseries, weaknesses, and limitations, we have Someone to guide, strengthen, comfort, and correct us in all our thoughts, words, actions, and decisions; Someone of infinite wisdom, love, and power, who can't be wrong. Indeed we have. At Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit for the first time, infused into our souls. He remains in us so long as we do not shut Him out by sin.

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but a Divine Person, the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God Himself IN us, conferring upon us that supernatural life we call SANCTIFYING GRACE, so that we now have two lives marvelously united, “One is a natural and visible life, consisting in the union of soul and body; the other is an invisible and INTERIOR life, consisting in the union of the soul with the Holy Spirit.”* This grace “cleanses our soul from sin, makes it holy and pleasing to God, and enables it to live a divine life”.* In other words, it makes us “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pt 1:4), because “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). “It calls forth in the soul a spiritual reflection of the uncreated beauty of God, which is NOT to be compared with the soul's natural likeness to God.”* We are literally DIVINIZED, sharers in God's very own life. “It incorporates us into the inner life of the Most Holy Trinity, so that God dwells personally in us, and we in Him. It informs and sustains our spiritual life, as the soul informs and sustains our body”.* However, “It is not discernible by the senses, but exists in the depths of the soul”.*

Along with Sanctifying Grace, the Holy Spirit communicates to our souls the Three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, as well as the four Cardinal Moral Virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. Included also in the rich dowry that the Holy Spirit bestows on us are His seven gifts. These are “supernatural habits, stable dispositions that perfect the soul and inclines it to respond to God, and to act promptly regarding all affairs of salvation”. All these are given us in seed form, which are then increased by the sacraments, prayer, and good works. In other words the Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to be like Jesus, the best version of who we are.

Truly the Holy Spirit will transform us little by little from within to be more and more like Jesus, but only if we allow Him to. We do this by making an explicit commitment to live with Jesus and live like Him, loving God and neighbor. For the indwelling of the Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus. The Soul of the soul of Christ becomes the Soul of our soul. This faith commitment is, so to speak, the ‘spiritual password’ that activates the Holy Spirit to work His wonders in our soul; for He respects our free will. Then we cooperate with the Holy Spirit by prayer, frequent reception of the Sacraments, and good works. “We live by the Spirit”; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we “walk by the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25) [CCC 736]. Then will the Holy Spirit produce in our souls the twelve fruits: charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, fidelity, modesty, continency, and chastity (see Gal 5: 22-23).

And so let us frequently converse with the Holy Spirit within us, even silently, with eyes closed if we will. Most of all may we not shut Him out by sin. But if out of weakness we fall into sin we have our faith's assurance that He comes back to us when we make a worthy sacramental confession. In fact Catholic Doctrine teaches that the Holy Spirit comes back to our souls immediately when we make a perfect act of contrition on condition that we will go to confession as soon as possible.

And so next time we feel sad and lonely, in all our miseries, let us remember that we are never alone. For we have a GENTLE GUEST and FRIEND within us, who inspires, guides, corrects, strengthens, and comforts us amidst our miseries and trials. (cf CCC 1697).

*quotes from CREDO, by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

May we therefore pray: O Holy Spirit, Soul of my soul, I adore Thee. Please enlighten, guide, strengthen, and console me. Tell me what I should do. Give me your orders. I promise to be submissive to Your Will, and to accept whatever you allow to happen to me. Grant only to me to know your will. Amen. (by Cardinal Mercier)