The Holy Spirit at Work in the Shake-ups of Our Lives –II
The Spirit at Work in the Shake-Ups of Life- part II
Lourdes Pinto and Fr. Jordi Rivero 5/3/21
The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to us from His pierced Heart on the Cross where He hung as a total failure in the eyes of the world. The Holy Spirit is our closest divine Companion. He is our guide, teacher, spiritual director, friend, help, light … He is the Transformer. He is the one that consumes us in His fire of love bringing forth our death in Christ crucified so that we can then be raised with Christ as a new creation.
As long as we hold on to our expectations about what constitutes our success, our being useful, even our holiness, we are blocking the Spirit.
Think of your lives as a candle. Until the wick is lit, it is useless; its true purpose has not begun. When we “rekindle the gift of God that is within” (2 Timothy 1:6), we are set on fire with the Holy Spirit. He begins to consume us as a candle is consumed before the Blessed Sacrament. The Holy Spirit melts our pride, self-love, vanity, desires, plans, expectations, control, and attachments until our self has melted. We no longer live, it is Christ who lives through us, with us, and in us. The Holy Spirit transforms us into living hosts, and the Eucharistic Reign of Christ triumphs in us and through us. This is the great gift of the Holy Spirit.
Our shake-ups, crisis, trials, burnout, whatever we wish to call it, is a BLESSING.
A priest may be tempted to think that his greatness is measured by his abilities as a homilist, administrator, counselor, healer…. that, to be born again, to be a great priest, he must achieve the expectations of his superiors, or most often, his own disordered expectations. Yet God calls all of us to excel in a different way, by humbly embracing our misery, our brokenness, by accepting humbly our limitations.
St. Faustina believed she was offering Jesus everything when she said:
1318 O my Jesus, in thanksgiving for Your many graces, I offer You my body and soul, intellect and will, and all the sentiments of my heart. Through the vows, I have given myself entirely to You; I have then nothing more that I can offer You. Jesus said to me, My daughter, you have not offered Me that which is really yours. I probed deeply into myself and found that I love God with all the faculties of my soul and, unable to see what it was that I had not yet given to the Lord, I asked, “Jesus, tell me what it is, and I will give it to You at once with a generous heart.” Jesus said to me with kindness, Daughter, give Me your misery, because it is your exclusive property.
Perhaps that is the hardest to give the Lord. Yet the Lord loves us as we are. He knows our brokenness and will make us saints through our trusting surrender.
To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit is to allow Him to complete this work of redemption in us with no resistance as the candle allows itself to be consumed by the fire.
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.” Acts 7:51
Holy Spirit, consumes all, transforms all, into Love, Message of 2/16/12
I Am the Light of God. The Fire in the burning bush that Moses saw was the Fire of the Spirit of God, the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity. It is My Fire of Love that consumes all and draws all into union with the Father through the Son. The gaze of Jesus is My Light penetrating your heart and being. The Words of Jesus are My Fire consuming you in Love and blessing you with wisdom, understanding, knowledge and fear of the Lord. I Am the breadth of the Son, that is why He breathed on His apostles My life. I Am the Fire of Love in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I Am the Love of the Father and the Son. I, the Holy Spirit, consumes all, transforms all, into Love... It is I Who sets on fire every particle of your being in the Love of the Father and Son...
It is I, consumed in the Son as ONE with the Father and Son, who moves the Son to lay down His life for Love. It is I Who moves you to lay down your life as ONE with the Son. Remain in Me as I desire to remain in you. Allow Me, like Mary, to consume you. Do not give Me any resistance.
To live totally docile to the Holy Spirit with no resistance is to accept all, the good and what we perceive as bad, with complete abandonment and trust, believing in God’s love for us expressed in His passion and cross.
Faith Perfected —Diary of a MOC. The Simple Path p310 #115.
Your faith is perfected in suffering and trials. Perfect faith is complete abandonment to My Father’s Will in all things through your union in Me. Therefore, your growth in faith is dependent on the abandonment of your will to Me and also on your knowledge of My perfect love for you.
The shedding of layers of attachments to your will, which is self-love, takes place as you begin to trust in My love for you. This is why suffering all your sorrows with Me is so beneficial for your soul, because, in that process, you touch the open wounds of My love for you. This perfects a soul quickly in abandonment and trust until you come to experience all, the good and what you perceive as bad, as a gift of My love for you.
The gift of knowing with your mind, heart, and soul that the love of God only desires to make of you the new creation you were created to be from the beginning of time, a creation in the image and likeness of God as holy sons and daughters of the Most High. This is why I came upon the earth: to set you free from the bondage of sin, to make of you a new creation, and draw you into the ONENESS of the Most Holy Trinity to experience holy bliss for all eternity. What greater love is there than this? (12/14/11)
Lyrics for Song:
CRISTO ROTO
Broken Christ
Text and music: Maria Hickein
Soy el Cristo roto, mutilado por el pecado...
I am the broken Christ, maimed by sin...
¿Quién Me quiere consolar?
Who wants to comfort Me?
Todo flagelado, desfigurado, tan maltratado...
All flagellated, disfigured, so mistreated ...
¿Quién Me viene a acompañar?
Who comes to accompany Me?
Como un mendigo implorando compasión...
Like a beggar seeking compassion...
Soy ese amigo que te dio Su corazón...
I am that friend that gave you His heart...
Soy el Cristo roto, olvidado, tan despreciado...
I am the broken Christ, maimed by sin...
¿Quién Me quiere ir a buscar?
Who wants to go looking for Me?
Vivo encadenado, amordazado, encarcelado...
I live chained, gagged, imprisoned ...
¿Quién Me pone en libertad?
Who sets Me free?
Muero de frío por no hallar un corazón
I'm dying of cold for not finding a heart.
que busque al Mío y Me abrigue con su amor...
who looks for Mine and who shelters Me with his love...
Soy tu Cristo roto, rechazado,
I am your Christ - broken and rejected-
fui traicionado con un beso sin amor
I was betrayed with a kiss without love
Soy tu Cristo herido, humillado, abandonado,
I am your Christ - wounded, humiliated, abandoned-
¿Quién repara esta traición?
Who repairs this betrayal?
Busco al amigo con quien compartir Mi sed
I am looking for a friend to share My thirst with
y que Conmigo se crucifique también...
and that, with Me, also crucifies himself...
Otro Cristo roto...
Another broken Christ...
