FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT?

“The Spirit we have received is not the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit.” –1 Corinthians 2:12
The Spirit:

• “scrutinizes all matters” (1 Cor 2:10),

• alone “knows what lies at the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:11),

• helps “us to recognize the gifts He has given us” (1 Cor 2:12),

• teaches us the words with which to speak of spiritual things (1 Cor 2:13), and

• makes it possible for us to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

We are trapped in ignorance, confusion, and a superficial relationship with the Lord unless we are docile to the Holy Spirit and let Him do as He wills in our lives. Most of us reading this are baptized and confirmed in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit lives within us (see 1 Cor 6:19). Nonetheless, we can quench (1 Thes 5:19) and grieve (Eph 4:30) the Holy Spirit by our sins. We must repent and let the Spirit be as active as possible in our lives. Only then can we live the abundant fullness of life in Christ.

However, to accept the graces of docility to the Holy Spirit and of repentance to resisting the Spirit is a formidable challenge to our selfishness. The Lord teaches through His Church: “The more we renounce ourselves, the more we ‘walk by the Spirit’ ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 736). The evil spirit repeatedly and sometimes subtly manipulates us through our selfishness into impeding the work of the Spirit.

PRAYER: Father, I ask You to do in me whatever is necessary for me to live fully in the Holy Spirit.
PROMISE: “What is there about His speech? He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they leave.” –Lk 4:36
PRAISE: Jesus healed Juan of the damage done by a heart attack. Since then, Juan has both worshipped Jesus in daily Mass and has gone to Confession monthly.