XXIX — THE HOLY SPIRIT AND PRAYER

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, come pray in me; come regulate my filial relations with the heavenly Father.

Meditation

1 — Our relations with God are essentially relations of children; they must therefore be relations of full trust and confidence, since we are not strangers but “members of God’s household” (domestici Dei; Eph. 2:19), that is, we belong to God’s family. Therefore our prayer should be the expression of the feelings of a child who delights in speaking heart to heart with his father and throws himself into his arms with full abandonment. But since we are still poor sinners, and awareness of our miseries and infidelities seeks to paralyze this filial impulse by generating in the soul a certain fear, often there rises spontaneously to our lips Peter’s cry: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk. 5:8). This happens especially when the soul passes through dark periods of struggle, temptations, and difficulties that try to cast it into agitation and turmoil, preventing it, despite its efforts, from having that trusting impulse of heart which drowns every care in God. But behold: one day during prayer, the soul is recollected under the influence of a new light that drives away all fear; it is not a new thought, but a new inner persuasion that makes it feel deeply that it is a child of God and that God is its Father. This is the influence of the gift of piety, set in motion by the Holy Spirit. Already St. Paul said to the first Christians: “You have not received the spirit of bondage to fall back into fear, but the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:15-16). It is therefore the Holy Spirit who infuses into the soul this deep sense of filial piety, of full trust in the heavenly Father; indeed, He Himself in us, with inexpressible groanings, whispers: “Father!” “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal. 4:6). And so the soul feels transformed, and its relations with God become truly filial.

2 — Deep prayer is an intimate converse of the soul with God; but who can teach man, so rough and material, the refinements required for intimate dealings with the King of heaven and earth? There will never be ceremonial nor devotional book capable of regulating in a worthy way the intimate relations of friendship between Creator and creature. But there is a Master, whose skill is fully adequate to the purpose and whose teaching is within reach of every Christian soul.

This Master is the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what we ought to ask in prayer as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with ineffable groanings” (Rom. 8:26). This reality is most consoling for the soul that senses its impotence and inability to deal with God, for the soul that feels the need for prayer proportioned to the infinite goodness of that God who loved us unto becoming one of us, and at the same time feels the need for prayer proportioned to the sovereign majesty, the infinite transcendence of the Most High. And so the Holy Spirit alternates in the soul sentiments of full confidence and deep adoration, of loving friendship and acknowledgment of God’s supreme greatness. The Holy Spirit repeats in us: Pater, and repeats again: Tu solus Sanctus, Tu solus Dominus, Tu solus altissimus. Even when we are in aridity, even when the heart is cold and the mind darkened, the Holy Spirit prays in us, and we can always offer God his prayer. This is the truest, most precious prayer, prayer that will certainly be heard, because the Holy Spirit cannot inspire sentiments and desires contrary to the divine good pleasure, but “intercedes for us according to God” (Rom. 8:27).

Colloquy

“Come, O Holy Spirit, and send from heaven a ray of your light. Come, father of the poor; come, giver of every grace; come, light of hearts. O best Consoler, sweet guest of the soul, sweet refreshment. You are rest in toil, relief in heat, comfort in weeping. Without your mighty help there is no good in me, nothing that is not defective. Wash what is unclean, water what is arid, heal what is wounded. Bend what is rigid, warm what is cold, straighten what strays. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill my heart, kindle in it the fire of your love, and all in me will be renewed” (cf. Sequence of the Holy Spirit).

“Come, O Holy Spirit, and deign to become my interior Master. Give me the true filial spirit toward the heavenly Father, great trust in his paternal goodness, a total active and passive adherence to his will, immense gratitude for his graces. Come and suggest to me all that Jesus has said; guide me, take direction of my whole being, help my weakness, supply my deficiency. Come and fulfill in me my mission of continual prayer, for what would my prayer be worth if it were not inspired and given value by You? ‘No one can say: Lord Jesus, except by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Cor. 12:3). O divine Spirit, pray therefore in me and for me. I must think that it is You who pray and praise God in me, even when weariness or aridity or distractions prevent me from fixing my spirit. I must then remain in a humble attitude of prayer and trust that You wish to draw from my being that praise, that glory which I cannot give but wish to give to my God” (Sr. Carmela of the Holy Spirit, C.S.).