Christ is the Answer Part II

Friends of Faith:

Christ is the Answer, but Jesus says there’s more.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” Jn 14: 23-26

The Holy Spirit is the “closer,” the part of God that is who Jesus promised to leave us when He left us (Acts 2) that is alive and moving around us and through us by all and through all that we meet – Christian and non-Christian alike – whether He, the Spirit, is recognized or not.

As much as I need to follow Jesus’ example I need to be able to hear and listen to the voice of reason and wisdom that Jesus left here on earth to guide us: that of the “Holy Spirit”, God’s third and often forgotten “person.”

No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 12: 3

This is the season of retreats and formation days and I have spent several days in the past two weeks listening and having the opportunity to be formed by the Spirit of God.

God obviously knew both what I needed and who I needed to hear it from. He also heard and answered my almost unknowing prayers of “send me quiet peace and the time to receive it.”

Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Rm 8:8

The Spirit flowed from both the leaders involved in the retreats and from those whom I have spent the days with (leaders and attendees). I have pages of notes, hundreds of ideas and an invigorated desire to evangelize and be a witness for Jesus.

But more importantly I was forced to take the time to be quiet, to listen, and to reflect on God’s truth and His presence in the parts of my life I have been determined to ignore and/or avoid.

And I was given the opportunity to renew the gifts of the Spirit that I received in the Sacrament of Confirmation: Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, piety, and wonder and awe (fear of the Lord.)

We all need to do be renewed and enriched regularly – in retreat and by formation; through prayer and study . More than just as our obligatory one hour on Sunday (if we even make or take the time to do that); we need to sit quietly, to reflect, and to actively listen to what the Holy Spirit really wants us to hear and how the Holy Spirit is guiding us to move (or be silent).

Maybe God’s messenger is different than the one we’ve come to know.

God, through the Holy Spirit is around us constantly. Sometimes the Spirit is just a whisper that we have to be willing to search for and listen to. And sometimes He comes to us as loud as thunder in a storm or as visible as fire and yet we deliberately ignore the presence that is trying to awaken us from our sleep, or pull us back from our busyness.

Come Holy Spirit Come. Enkindle in me the fire of Your love. Fill my heart with the desire to listen and to answer Your call. Come Holy Spirit Come. Open my heart to the fruit of Your Spirit: love, joy, patience, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5: 22-23)

Be in the Spirit of Christ,

Blessings,

Charlotte