Be Docile to the Holy Spirit

"O Holy Spirit, make me docile to Your action and always willing to be guided and directed by You."

"In what concerns sanctity, we are always like school children,m apprentices who, having only a rudimentary knowledge of the art they are learning, are always in need of direction and suggestions from their teacher.  Our Teacher of sanctity is none other than the Holy Spirit...That is why the whole work of our sanctification can be reduced to a question of docility to the divine Paraclete...

"But very often, alas! our will still remains hard, stubborn, and intractable because it is so attached to creatures especially to that one creature, the 'ego' which we blindly cherish.  Hence, to cooperate with the action of the Holy Spirit, the first requirement is the painstaking effort to detach ourselves from everything, especially from ourselves.  Detachment will free us from numerous bonds which, like cords, tie us to creatures, making our docility and submissiveness to the Holy Spirit an impossibility...

"the Paraclete is not content simply to invite us to what is good, but He wishes to take the initiative, impelling us more effectively toward God.  However, He respects our liberty, and will not make Himself Master of our will unless we are disposed to give it to Him freely.  And here we can set up another obstacle to His action:...Perhaps we cooperate partially, giving Him something of what He asks, but we do not give Him 'all'.  We must therefore, cultivate the spirit of 'totality' which puts no limits on our giving.  We must have a magnanimous heart and not retard the work of the Holy Spirit, who will to bring us, not only, to good actions but to generous, heroic, saintly ones."  --from Divine Intimacy, #192.

Come, Holy Spirit!

"But if the Holy Spirit is an impulse of love that comes into us to sanctify us and bring us to God, why do we not all become saints? The mystery of human responsibility enters here...Although He is eager to enter our souls and to possess it, He will not act thus unless we give Him free access..."God does not force anyone, He takes what we give Him; but He does not give Himself wholly to us, until we give ourselves wholly to Him." (St Teresa in Way of Perfection, ch 28) If we do not become saints, it is not because the Holy Spirit does not will it -- He was sent to us and comes to us for this very purpose -- but it is because we do not give full liberty to His action. This is the point in which we fail: we do not use our liberty to wholly yield our soul to His powerful, loving invasion. If our will would open the doors wide, the Holy Spirit would take us under His direction, and, with His help, we would become saints." from Divine Intimacy, #188 (p.563)

Let us pray for His Spirit upon us during the Vigil Mass tonight.

Luke 1:26-38  Mary overshadowed by the Holy Spirit conceived the Savior!  Holy Spirit, overshadow us!  Luke 11:9-13 It simply pleases Jesus and the Father to pour out the Holy Spirit upon us.  Let us ask and knock and seek for more of the Spirit.

On the faithful who adore

And confess You evermore

In Your sevenfold gift descend;

Give them virtue's sure reward;

Give them Your salvation, Lord;

Give them joys that never end.

Amen.  Alleluia.



Acts 2:1-4 PENTECOST   Suddenly there was the rush of a mighty wind, from heaven...And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.  By our novena we have prepared ourselves for the coming of the Spirit.  Let us repent if necessary, humble ourselves by fasting, and turn to Him with a loving and surrendered heart desperate for more of His Spirit.

Bend the stubborn heart and will;

melt the frozen, warm the chill;

guide the steps that go astray.



Luke 24:49  Jesus said He would send the promise of the Father"...and the disciples would be clothed with "power from on high."  The Holy Spirit is the Father's Promise!  Ask Him now to fulfill His promise to you and your children!

Heal our wounds, our strength renew!

On our dryness pour Your dew;

wash the stains of guilt away.



Luke 4:18-19"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..."  Jesus quoting the Prophet Isaiah (ch 61). Jesus depended upon the power of the Spirit in His own ministry!  How much more so we, in our family, our work, and our service.

Where You are not, we have naught;

nothing good in deed or thought,

nothing free from taint of ill. 

Joel 3:1-2 (NAB) or 2:28-29 (RSV)  This is the passage Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost.  I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh... Yes Lord, how we need your Spirit!

O most blessed light divine;

shine within these hearts of Yours

and our inmost being fill!