Life in the Holy Spirit

Most Catholics are accustomed to start a prayer by making the Sign of the Cross and in doing so show our faith in God as a Trinity of Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many can testify to having a strong relationship with God our Father and speak to Him with confidence as such. Many know that Jesus is Lord and the Son of God, and in meditating on the Gospels grow in knowledge of Him and seek a deeper communion in Him. But what of the Holy Spirit?

A contemporary saint once lamented that for many Catholics, the Holy Spirit is the great stranger of the soul. We believe in the Holy Spirit and know the Spirit is active in the Church, but many rarely speak to the Holy Spirit in prayer or ask for Him to fill us with wisdom, a wisdom St. Paul reminded the Corinthians in this Sunday’s Second Reading that is “revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:10).

As our Lenten fast approaches, we have an opportunity to take more time to pray and to pray in the Holy Spirit. For some this is found in more charismatic forms of prayer, but prayer in the Holy Spirit is also found in contemplative silence and asking for Him to be less a stranger of the soul and more a perpetual advocate and guide. Again, St Paul taught that those who pray in the Spirit can obtain a wisdom that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). Let us be bold in inviting the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives and ask Him to teach us, daily, the wisdom of God.