XXIII — OUR COLLABORATION

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, make me docile to your action, always ready to let myself be moved and directed by you.

Meditation

1 — Before holiness we are always schoolchildren, apprentices who, having very limited knowledge of the art they are learning, always need the guidance and suggestions of their master. The Master of holiness is precisely the Holy Spirit; speaking of Him, Jesus said: “He will teach you all things and remind you of everything” (Jn. 14:26). He teaches us what we must do to love God with all our strength. He suggests to us everything we do not know, whether regarding God or the practice of perfection; and He not only teaches us, but puts us in a position to do the good He shows us. In fact, acting directly on our will, He strengthens it, draws it, powerfully launches it into God, and perfectly orients it toward Him. Thus the Holy Spirit “helps our weakness” (Rom. 8:26), and since this weakness is “constitutional,” inherent in our human nature, we continually need Him. And in fact He never leaves us: our whole spiritual life is enveloped in his action. We have seen how from the beginning He comes to meet us by preparing and sustaining our personal initiatives; but then, if He finds us docile to his invitations, He Himself takes his initiatives in us. Therefore the whole work of our sanctification is reduced, in the end, to a question of docility to the divine Paraclete. First of all, we must be very attentive and docile to his calls: Utinam hodie vocem eius audiatis: nolite obdurare corda vestra; O that today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts! (Ps. 94[95], 7-8). The Holy Spirit’s invitations can reach us through the words of Sacred Scripture, preaching, the Church’s teachings, the various circumstances of life, good thoughts, holy inspirations: let us respond at once, showing our good will by promptly accepting and obeying his calls.

2 — But many times, unfortunately, our will is still hard, undocile, reluctant, and this is because it is still so attached to creatures, and especially to that creature which is our self and which we always love too much. Therefore, to correspond to the Holy Spirit’s action, the first thing required is to work assiduously to detach ourselves from everything, and even from ourselves. Detachment will free us from so many ties that, like cords, bind us to creatures, making impossible that docility and pliancy necessary to be easily moved by the Holy Spirit. And let us remember that to bind the soul to creatures, even a single thin thread is enough, that is, even small attachments are enough: “what does it matter whether a little bird is tied by a thin thread rather than a thick one? however thin the thread is, it is still true that the little bird is bound and, until it breaks it, it cannot fly” (St. John of the Cross, Ascent I, 11, 4). Detachment breaks the thread that ties us to earth, and our soul, thus freed, can follow every least impulse of the Holy Spirit, and He can invade and direct it according to his good pleasure.

We said that the Holy Spirit does not content Himself with inviting us to good, but wants to take his initiatives in us to impel us more effectively toward God. Yet He respects our freedom and therefore will not take possession of our will if we are not disposed to give it to Him freely. And here we can place another obstacle to his action: the Holy Spirit wishes to carry us high, into God, but we do not adhere fully because we lack generosity, and by our narrowness we delay the divine work. Perhaps we correspond in part to his motion, giving Him something of what He asks, but not arriving at giving Him “everything.” It is therefore very necessary to cultivate a spirit of “totality” that sets no limits to our self-giving; we must have a broad, generous heart so as not to delay the Holy Spirit’s work, He who wants to lead us not only to good actions but to generous, heroic, holy actions.

Colloquy

“My merciful God, my sweetness and my love, send your Holy Spirit from Paradise and create in me a new heart and a new spirit. May your anointing teach me all things, for I have chosen you among a thousand and I love you above every love and more than my very soul. O Holy Spirit, God of love, receive me into your most loving mercy and charity, so that in the whole course of my life I may have You as my master and teacher, and as the sweetest lover of my heart” (St. Gertrude).

“O Holy Spirit, teach me to value each of your least inspirations! It is more precious than the whole world - even the least inspiration to restrain a word or a glance - because it is a little ‘vocation,’ an invitation to enter more deeply into divine intimacy if, by faithfully corresponding, I grow in grace and love. O Holy Spirit, make me understand well that perfection consists in always saying ‘Amen’ to You whenever You ask me something through obedience or your inspirations. Help me to avoid every little infidelity, every hesitation, to refuse You nothing; then your light will always keep growing in me and love will become an abyss that cannot be fathomed. But, O Holy Spirit, I know well that in practice I shall often fall, I shall fail - my God! provided it not be willingly! - yet You teach me that even then I must rise at once and, with an act of love, place myself again at once under your influence. No, You do not want me to be troubled, nor to let myself be discouraged by my infidelities, because your spirit is gentle; ‘O how sweet is your spirit, O Lord’ (Wis. 12:1), and ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ (2 Cor. 3:17), joy and peace in the Holy Spirit” (cf. Sr. Carmela of the Holy Spirit, c.s.).