Do you have a personal relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

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Anthony's Mom:
My priest was just talking about this. He said most people have personal relationship with the Father the Son but don’t treat the H.S. like a real person, they just think of Him as a power. His example was how we say, “Our Father” and “Our Lord, Jesus Christ” but the H.S. is always “THE Holy Spirit”.

I’ve tried to follow Mary’s footsteps regarding this and tried to develop a spousal relationship with the Spirit, as she was the “Spouse of the Spirit.”
Our pastor recently spoke of the spousal relationship between Christ and His Church. If I understood him correctly, our rleationship with the Holy Spirit is one of Spousal Love.
I have often in prayer refered to the Holy Spirit as the “Lover of my Soul” meaning the One who love me most purely and sees me as I am called to be.
 
Great thread! 🙂 As a new Catholic, I’ve had to totally shift my prayerlife (for the better!) in light of the much fuller understanding of the Trinity and the entire heavenly cosmos in which the Church participates.

My prayers are primarily to the whole Blessed Trinity, this feels the most fulfilling for me. In a single contemplative prayer I will sift seamlessly addressing the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. In vocal prayers I like those the most which address all three Divine Persons.
I also specifically address each, and choose vocal prayers for each, such as the ‘Our Father,’ the ‘O My Jesus,’ and the ‘Come, Holy Spirit.’ When I pray to the Father it is usually for general petitions, lamentations or thanksgiving; to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness of sins, as well as inquiries about how I can better conform to His Will; and to the Holy Spirit for Grace and virtues to live the Christian life. The Father is my Master, Jesus is my Teacher, and the Holy Spirit my Tutor, and yet each is true of all the others.

Mary my Mother is my itinerary, a locus point of the Trinity for me. She is the living Ark of the Covenant and I always join my prayers with hers. Before I formally address God in prayer I always ask Mary first to intercede for me, either through a ‘Hail Mary’ or a ‘Memorare’ or just contemplatively. Mary is, like St. Louis de Montfort said, the new ‘Garden of Eden’ with whom we are united to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and approach the Father. Mary intensifies our relationship with the Blessed Trinity, and is the perfect means of joining to Christ in the Holy Spirit. She also fully reveals the Holy Spirit to me, as a Protestant He was always a vague essence, but through Mary He has an image, as she is His Spouse par excellence.

Then there are the holy Angels and Saints. I pray to my Guardian Angel to help me respond to the inspirations of the same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit always comes to us and works through mediums: He comes through Christ, the High Priest and one Mediator between God and Man Who merited the Paraclete from the Father for the human race. The Holy Spirit works primarily *with *Mary, who is His Spouse, His image, and unites us to Christ, His primary mission. He guides and protects us by the holy Angels, whom He also empowers with His Grace, as external forces, and He guides our own souls interally, counseling our own hearts and minds in the love of God, empowering us with supernatural Grace, which is His very indwelling.
The Saints I pray to in the Holy Spirit through Christ who unites us all in the Church, His Body, whenever I have a very specific intention, and call on a particular Saint to add their holy intercessions for me.

My primary avenue of prayer is *to *the Father, *through *the Son, *in *the Holy Spirit, *with *Mary, the Saints and Angels. There is certainly a mental shift from adoration (total awe) to veneration (deep respect) when I address either God or the Saints and Angels, respectively. Mary is special in the latter case of course, her veneration is higher than all the others put together.
 
Quite honestly, I hadn’t thought of it that way…of course a relationship with the Son and the Father, but a relationship with the Holy Spirit? Hadn’t occured to me…and now that you’ve brought it up, it is a gigantic “no duh!” moment. Of course I should address myself to the Holy Spirit.

Thanks much…
 
To me a personal relationship is when I can talk to someone and can hear him or her talk or at least communicate back with me. In a personal relationship should we not hear and feel the person? How can we know the person is even there unless we get a response?

I have personally felt and heard the Holy Spirit, and also Jesus. I can’t say that I have a personal relationship with the Father other in and through the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

Jesus, a long time ago told my wife and I that we would be one and then we would be one with Him and then we would be one with the Father. What He didn’t say was that we would be one with the Holy Spirit. I wonder why not? Never though to ask Jesus why He didn’t say one with the Holy Spirit until now.
Giver
 
T.A.Stobie:
A question to ponder and share on if you like.

:hmmm: Do you have a personal relationship with each person of the Holy Trinity? Is it easier to relate to one person than the others? Any difficulties relating to any of them? :hmmm:

Pray on it and share your experiences.
Yes I have a relationship with the three persons of The Blessed Trinity nor does this present any difficulties to me. It is not something that I effected, but something which came about…it is completely natural and intrinsic to me, yet difficult to put into words for in specifically relating to one I relate to the three as God. This is not something on which I can meditate on put into compartments for the purpose of discussion - it simply is.

Barb
Sth. Aust.
 
Anthony's Mom:
… most people have personal relationship with the Father the Son but don’t treat the H.S. like a real person, they just think of Him as a power.
This has always been a problem for me. I have a great deal of difficulty conceiving of the Holy Spirit as a person rather than as the power of God flowing from the Father and the Son.

I was raised Catholic and so have been taught from my youth that the Holy Spirit is person, yet for some reason this conception is elusive to me. There is a great gap here between my head knowledge and my heart knowledge where the Holy Spirit is concerned.

I feel closest to Jesus on a personal level. He came into this world and experienced life as a human. He knows from experience what human life is like, and that is what makes him the easiest person of the Trinity for me to relate to.

My prayer life, which has really increased and improved over the last month as I have begun to return to the Church, focusses on the Father through Jesus. My prayers are addressed to the Father in Jesus’ name, unless I am seeking the intercession of Mary or one of the saints.

I just realized that I never address prayers directly to Jesus. I ask Mary and the saints to pray to Jesus on my behalf, but I do not actually pray to Jesus myself. Interesting.
 
Romans 8
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.



26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
 
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Neithan:

I also specifically address each, and choose vocal prayers for each, such as the ‘Our Father,’ the ‘O My Jesus,’ and the ‘Come, Holy Spirit.’ When I pray to the Father it is usually for general petitions, lamentations or thanksgiving; to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness of sins, as well as inquiries about how I can better conform to His Will; and to the Holy Spirit for Grace and virtues to live the Christian life. …

Mary my Mother is my itinerary, a locus point of the Trinity for me. She is the living Ark of the Covenant and I always join my prayers with hers. … Mary is, like St. Louis de Montfort said, the new ‘Garden of Eden’ with whom we are united to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and approach the Father. Mary intensifies our relationship with the Blessed Trinity, and is the perfect means of joining to Christ in the Holy Spirit. …

Then there are the holy Angels and Saints. I pray to my Guardian Angel to help me respond to the inspirations of the same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit always comes to us and works through mediums: He comes through Christ, the High Priest and one Mediator between God and Man Who merited the Paraclete from the Father for the human race. The Holy Spirit works primarily *with *Mary, who is His Spouse, His image, and unites us to Christ, His primary mission. He guides and protects us by the holy Angels, whom He also empowers with His Grace, as external forces, and He guides our own souls interally, counseling our own hearts and minds in the love of God, empowering us with supernatural Grace, which is His very indwelling.
The Saints I pray to in the Holy Spirit through Christ who unites us all in the Church, His Body, whenever I have a very specific intention, and call on a particular Saint to add their holy intercessions for me.

My **primary avenue of prayer is *to ***the Father, *through *the Son, *in *the Holy Spirit, *with *Mary, the Saints and Angels. There is certainly a mental shift from adoration (total awe) to veneration (deep respect) when I address either God or the Saints and Angels, respectively. Mary is special in the latter case of course, her veneration is higher than all the others put together.
Neithan,

This was such a well thought-out and accurately stated post, and it resonated a lot with me! It strikes me as a careful synthesis of Church teaching and enlightened experience. For you being a former Protestant to have reached this point, I am awestruck and encouraged. I certainly hope you transfer this faithful understanding to as many others as possible. 🙂

Thanks!

hurst
 
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Mijoy2:
Could someone direct me to any material that makes an attempt at explaining the concept of the Holy Trinity?

I am of (at least) the basic understanding of the Holy Trinity. However clearly my understanding is pale in comparison to those of you here. I find it difficult to seperate Jesus from the Father conceptually. I find myself , often, at a loss as to where to direct my prayers. When you consider Mary this even complicates things further for me in terms of prayer.

Just for example, if someone I care about either personally or a celebrity (like Johnny Kelly recently), when I attempt to pray for his soul, I do not know who to address. Or if I am praying for the conversion for someone, or a general prayer for peace and love or my family members, whom do I address? If I pray to Jesus, I feel maybe my prayer should have been directed to Mother Mary or to God the Father. I have never prayed directly to the Holy Spirit. Honestly, I didn’t know the entity, of the Holy Spirit, was an entity of the trinity of which we prayed to.

Urrrggg, so much to learn.

Any help would be appreciated.
Hi,

Meditation on This helped me a lot. It takes some time to get through it - but is worth iit. I prayed my way through it once, then took it line by line. Hope it helps!

Peace

John
 
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