It is unbelievable what the Holy Spirit wreaks in us.

One of the first demonstrations of the Holy Spirit in our souls is the birth of the faith that God knows us better than we know ourselves, that we are unique before God, and that our individual life really matters. As for that, the presence of the Holy Spirit comes forth also in our desire to spend time with God. We see in Him the source of life and we are in awe that God treats us as His children, as His greatest treasure (Is 49:16). When the Holy Spirit is at work, He makes us sure that even if only one of us inhabited the earth, Jesus Christ would have died for my sake and for my sake He would stay for me in the Eucharist. In this sense the manifestation of the Holy Spirit comes together with belief in the Blessed Sacrament and also with the belief that Holy Scripture is a torch in the darkness: “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Without the Holy Spirit we cannot agree that it is possible that God loves me as I am, together with my attachments, and wrong attitudes towards others, that God loves me in the middle of my egotism and sinfulness. This hesitation cannot be overcome without the descent of the Holy Spirit on a soul, simply as this is a very individual challenge by God of our dreams of what we are. However, this is one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in us: to allow God to love us where we are and as we are, without further conditions, to allow Him to come to ‘my’ poverty, ‘my’ ugliness, without the need to attract God’s attention by our shows, or attempts to prove that we are worthy to be noticed by Him.
Another manifestation of the Holy Spirit, closely related and inextricably linked to the fire of God’s unconditional love of our very self, is our real future. God loves us in the context of the fullness of our holiness sewn in us. We do not know the future but God has already seen in us the future saints (1P1:15-16). and is supported in the gift of discernment and strength in seven different forms known as the seven gifts (Is 11:2-3), charismatic gifts (1 Cor 12:8-11) and makes souls full of deep peace, joy, love, patience, etc. (see the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Gal 5:22-23). In this practical way, the Holy Spirit puts Christ – the risen Lord – in the centre of our souls so that we see everything through Him, with Him and in Him

Fr Stan

Categories: Reflections