Come Holy Spirit by Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
Come, Holy Spirit,
and from heaven direct on man
the rays of Your light.
Come, Father of the poor;
come, Giver of God’s gifts;
come, Light of men’s hearts.
Kindly Paraclete,
in Your gracious visits to man’s soul
You bring relief and consolation.
It is weary with toil, You bring it ease;
in the heat of temptation, Your grace cools it;
if sorrowful, Your words console it.
Light most blessed, shine on the hearts of Your
faithful – even into their darkest corners;
for without Your help there is nothing good in man,
and nothing is innocent.
Wash clean the injured soul.
Soften the hard of heart,
warm the cold of heart,
and direct the wayward.
Grant the seven holy gifts
to Your faithful,
for their trust is in You.
Grant reward for their virtue;
grant them death that ensures salvation;
grant them everlasting bliss. Amen
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Never Hurry
I had a friend who would always push me to "Hurry up, hurry up!" even when it came to prayer. Once I was praying in a chapel and he came to get me to go with him somewhere. He snapped his fingers and said, "Hurry up." I was never so infuriated.
A prayer time should never be hurried. Time with God should be open-ended. One would never think of limiting time spent with a friend or family member. Why would one hurry God? And the deepest form of prayer, contemplative prayer, is meant to be a time of sitting and waiting for God to speak. How can one wait if one is hurrying and rushing? It is impossible.
A good and healthy relationship with God needs to be nourished by allowing God the time to speak at His rate; not to quickly rush Him. That is a rude relationship. And who should be our greatest love if not God Himself? I prefer to wait on God. He is the One most worth waiting for.
A prayer time should never be hurried. Time with God should be open-ended. One would never think of limiting time spent with a friend or family member. Why would one hurry God? And the deepest form of prayer, contemplative prayer, is meant to be a time of sitting and waiting for God to speak. How can one wait if one is hurrying and rushing? It is impossible.
A good and healthy relationship with God needs to be nourished by allowing God the time to speak at His rate; not to quickly rush Him. That is a rude relationship. And who should be our greatest love if not God Himself? I prefer to wait on God. He is the One most worth waiting for.
God Answers a Prayer
In my lifetime I have given myself over to God many, many times in complete surrender to His holy will. Mostly, the past fifteen years have been the times of total surrender of myself into God where I receive the consolation of feeling myself diminishing and God surrounding me as I disappear into contemplative prayer and lose myself into Him. It is a feeling like no other and one that I never cease to desire never to end. My being lost in God is the greatest consolation I could ever hope for on this side of heaven. Of course times of consolation are interspersed among times of desolation, when God decides to move away for awhile and test my faithfulness and willingness to love Him just the same without the consolations. I must remain faithful and love Him just the same during those "dry" times.
Last summer I asked my friend, the Holy Spirit, for a certain grace to be used in a particular way in the kingdom, for the sole purpose of lifting up the Church. I continued to ask Him and little by little, I came to understand that indeed, God had answered this prayer in my life. It was confirmed in various ways, and I spoke of it with my spiritual director and my pastor, Fr. Tom, both very holy and trustworthy men. Both gave me very similar spiritual direction as to how to use this gift and how to discern when God was calling me for this purpose and how to "learn" how to use this gift for God's glory.
God is a gentle and patient God. He is kind and loving. The Holy Spirit sends people to me and I am learning that it is clear that I do not need to seek people, but, that God indeed will bring them to me, as evidenced by those who have come to me, in particular, those who came who did not know me previously.
My reason for this post is not to draw attention to myself. I humbly wish to be always unnoticed and in the background for I am merely a conduit of God's graces. But, I do wish to speak the truth that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the world today. All we need do is call upon Him. When Jesus was foretelling His friends about His passion and death, He told them that He needed to leave so that the Advocate could come; the Paraclete. And He said that even greater things would happen through them by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was talking about from that time foreward until the end of time. He meant for us now in this time, as well. We need just to believe and to ask. The Holy Spirit is here to accompany us on this journey and to help us in spreading the gospel message. Blessed are those who have not seen and who believe. But, some need to see to believe.
God bless all who see this blog. May you call upon your friend, the Holy Spirit, to be with you each moment of every day, to accompany you on your daily journey in faith.
Last summer I asked my friend, the Holy Spirit, for a certain grace to be used in a particular way in the kingdom, for the sole purpose of lifting up the Church. I continued to ask Him and little by little, I came to understand that indeed, God had answered this prayer in my life. It was confirmed in various ways, and I spoke of it with my spiritual director and my pastor, Fr. Tom, both very holy and trustworthy men. Both gave me very similar spiritual direction as to how to use this gift and how to discern when God was calling me for this purpose and how to "learn" how to use this gift for God's glory.
God is a gentle and patient God. He is kind and loving. The Holy Spirit sends people to me and I am learning that it is clear that I do not need to seek people, but, that God indeed will bring them to me, as evidenced by those who have come to me, in particular, those who came who did not know me previously.
My reason for this post is not to draw attention to myself. I humbly wish to be always unnoticed and in the background for I am merely a conduit of God's graces. But, I do wish to speak the truth that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the world today. All we need do is call upon Him. When Jesus was foretelling His friends about His passion and death, He told them that He needed to leave so that the Advocate could come; the Paraclete. And He said that even greater things would happen through them by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was talking about from that time foreward until the end of time. He meant for us now in this time, as well. We need just to believe and to ask. The Holy Spirit is here to accompany us on this journey and to help us in spreading the gospel message. Blessed are those who have not seen and who believe. But, some need to see to believe.
God bless all who see this blog. May you call upon your friend, the Holy Spirit, to be with you each moment of every day, to accompany you on your daily journey in faith.
My Savior, My Jesus
Each day I place my hand in Yours,
I strive to walk with You.
The road is long and so often tough,
The resting spots are few.
Yet, when I stop and think about
The road that was Yours to take,
I realize how simple mine is these days,
Since You've lightened the load for my sake.
I strive to walk with You.
The road is long and so often tough,
The resting spots are few.
Yet, when I stop and think about
The road that was Yours to take,
I realize how simple mine is these days,
Since You've lightened the load for my sake.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
