«COME HOLY SPIRIT SOUL OF MY SOUL». THE RECOURSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH MUST BE DAILY, BRANCH AND TRUSTFUL

Every day we need the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit, in every circumstance of life, not just at particular chosen moments. With sadness we must recognize that even in the Church he is often invoked in a folkloristic way, making him a "fluid" that levels and fixes man's distortions, also and above all of that man who does not wish to submit to his action. In short, a true "magical Holy Spirit... esoteric" at the limit of the Gnostic conception.

— Pastoral current events —

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Of all the prayers to the Holy Spirit that the Church knows, some of which are very famous and recited punctually and solemnly in particular moments of ecclesial life such as the Veni Creator, there is the prayer of Cardinal Désiré Joseph Mercier (1851-1926).

This prayer says so:

«O Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, I adore you! Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I have to do, give me your orders. I promise to submit myself in everything to your desire and accept whatever you want to send me! Only teach me your will. Amen».

The wise Belgian cardinal he continually exhorted the faithful to confidently recite this prayer, encouraging Catholics to familiarity and devotion towards the Holy Spirit, often considered by us Westerners as "the great unknown", he said:

«I want to reveal to you the secret of holiness and joy, if every day, for five minutes, you know how to impose silence on your imagination and close your eyes to all external things and your ears to all the noises of the earth to enter within yourself, and there, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, speak to this divine guest and tell him […] If you do this, I repeat, your life will flow happily, serene and consoled, even if in tribulations, because the grace will be proportionate to the test and will give you the strength to bear it and you will reach heaven full of merits. This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of holiness.".

The peculiarity of this prayer lies in the fact of expressing a great truth, that of considering the Holy Spirit as "the soul of my soul", that is, as the most intimate and sacred part of man's soul. The Holy Spirit, so, it doesn't just speak to the soul but it speaks about the soul, it tells us who the author and privileged interlocutor is, to then give it that divine form in which God makes himself present, that seal that indelibly marks belonging to the Lord (stamp) and configures him more perfectly to Christ by giving him the grace to spread his good perfume among men (cf. 2 Cor2,15).

The effort of the believing man it consists precisely in knowing and guarding one's soul in friendship and communion with God through that docility to the Holy Spirit which can only be continuous. Every day we need the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit, in every circumstance of life, not just at particular chosen moments. With sadness we must recognize that even in the Church he is often invoked in a folkloristic way, making him a "fluid" that levels and fixes man's distortions, also and above all of that man who does not wish to submit to his action. In short, a true "magical Holy Spirit... esoteric" at the limit of the Gnostic conception.

Invoke the Holy Spirit at the start of a meeting, of a Chapter, of a synod, of a council or conclave means raising your hands before the work of God and his will, which almost always contrasts with that of man and his projects. It means speaking to God with his Spirit: "you act!» but we often have to recognize that we use to call into question the Holy Spirit to ratify decisions already made, when man has already acted with previously planned orientations and already thought out paths.

In doing so, the Holy Spirit – sweet and discreet guest of the soul – it no longer speaks to the soul of man and is no longer capable of animating it as the good Cardinal Désiré Joseph Mercier teaches us. Say this today, even within the Church, it might seem borderline incorrect, it could mean appearing as a denier of some "inspired realities". There could also be the risk of being labeled as a problematic personality and prone to grumbling and discontent. But all in all it might even be worth it, if all this is done to return to allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of the Lord and to run the serious risk of being put in crisis where we have the presumption of having already understood everything.

In my twenty-five years of religious life and fifteen of priestly life I have always kept these two passages of Sacred Scripture in mind as a personal compass in my relationship with God and therefore as a methodology of discernment before the work of the Holy Spirit:

«Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways – oracle of the Lord. For as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts dominate your thoughts". (cf.. Is 55, 8 – 9).

«If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor;. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guardian watches in vain". (cf.. Shall 127, 1)

I bring this personal experience of mine to share with readers and brothers the desire to know that, although priests and consecrated people, our daily guide is not represented by the academic qualifications obtained in theological science, not even by insiders and entries into structures of power and prestige. Much less our desires for good or the desire to do great things, often human, too human. Everything in us must move in the harmony of the Holy Spirit, he is the conductor of the orchestra, the score and the music.

About the Holy Spirit I could quote many biblical passages, Among many others, this one from the Gospel according to John comes to mind: «And I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to remain with you forever, the Spirit of truth, that the world cannot receive because it does not see it and does not know it. You know him because he remains with you and will be in you" (GV 14, 16-17) .

Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit/Paraclete which remains not only with us but, says the Lord expressly: «It will be in you». It is the theme of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as a divine guest, in the soul of the just, of which the above-mentioned cardinal already spoke. The apostle Paul also reminds us of this in his first letter to the Corinthians: «You don't know that . . . the Spirit of God dwells in you?» (1 Color 3, 16). The Holy Spirit who is present and works throughout the Church, shows the concrete implementation of his presence and action in the relationship with the human person, with the soul of the baptized in which He establishes his home and pours out the gift obtained from Christ with the Redemption. The action of the Holy Spirit penetrates into the depths of man, in the hearts of the faithful, and pours into it the light and grace that gives life. This is what we ask for in the Pentecost Mass Sequence: O most blessed light, invade the hearts of your faithful intimately".

God is present among men in the Son, through the humanity assumed by Him into unity of person with his divine nature. With this visible presence in Christ, God prepares a new presence through Him, Invisible, which comes about with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The presence of Christ "among" men opens the way to the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is an interior presence, a presence in human hearts. Thus Ezekiel's prophecy is fulfilled: «I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit within you . . . I will put my spirit within you" (This 36, 26-27).

Thanks to this home men become "temple of God", of the Trinity God, because "the spirit of God dwells in you", as we recalled in the words of Saint Paul. The Apostle himself specifies shortly afterwards: «Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and which you have from God?» (1 Color 6, 19). So, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit entails a particular consecration of the entire human person, body size is also involved, in the likeness of the temple. This consecration is sanctifying. It constitutes the very essence of saving grace, through which man accesses participation in the Trinitarian life of God. An internal source of holiness is thus opened in man, from which life "according to the Spirit" derives. Lord Jesus is this source from which the gift of the living water of the Spirit flows. In this regard, Saint John always recalls the cry of Jesus: «The big day of the party, Jesus, pillow block feet, he shouted: «If anyone is thirsty, come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As Scripture says: From her womb rivers of living water will flow.". And the evangelist comments: «This is what he said about the Spirit that those who believe in him would receive: in fact there was not yet the Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified" (GV 7, 37-39). John thus prepares us for the final aspiration of the Lord that he spoke from the cross: «On set». Thirst to give to the Church that water of the Spirit which shortly after his death flows from his side and which the believing soul contemplates: «E, bowed his head, delivered the Spirit" (GV 19,30).

Invoke the Holy Spirit it means, therefore return inside that hermitage that is our soul, in that delicate and secret territory which we cannot enter except with the lively mystical desire to experience God, of being drawn by Him and being able to enjoy them fully. And for this we must call the Spirit of God who knows everything even the very depths of God (cf.. 1 Color 2,10 – 16).

September is the month in which activities start again in the most diverse parishes and Christian communities. It would be nice to start again from the Holy Spirit to teach us the path to take and make us aware of the many mistakes passed off as his but which are ours. A shared journey, today it would be called synodal, in which you strongly want the presence of God... and only that.

Among the many spiritual "things" that we can invent and do within the Church of God, it would also be time to understand that the addition of the adjective "spiritual" is indicative of a very specific orientation that tells us that we are waiting for the breath of the Holy Spirit, of the irruption of God into the history of man, in the history of each of us, in my personal history.

How wonderful it would be to hold a perennial synod on the Holy Spirit, on Pentecost! Starting from that living pneuma that transforms everything and fills everything in a movement of grace that saves: from the time of confused and chaotic man [year (chronos)] we move on to God's time, orderly and suave [weather (kairos)] to experience that time of grace of the Spirit[grace (curry)] which translates into that love that the Church desperately needs and which, as the great poet said, «moves the sun and the other stars (cf.. Paradiso, XXXIII, v. 145)».

Sanluri, 2 October 2024

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