Life in the Spirit

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**Fr. C. G. Vaillancourt

We are invited to live a life in the Spirit of God, this calls for renunciation of the earthly life, detachment from our material world, possessions and the ego.

We must die to the old self to experience the new self which is empowered by the Holy Spirit to live according to the Will of God.

This new life creates new commitments to God, which involve more time for God than before, we are encouraged to participate in different types of prayer meetings, we may practice different devotions, we may be called to receive the Lord daily in the Holy Eucharist, we may decide to pray the Rosary daily and many other activities which did not make sense before.

We are the new apostles of the Lord, and we must pray for the unity of the Church and the hope that all who have left her may return to Holy Mother Church, we must proclaim the Good News to everyone and be living witnesses of the truth.

Pray that the gifts the Lord is giving you will be given to everyone, pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit continually.

Those experiencing the action of the Holy Spirit may receive visions, locutions, dreams, knowledge, wisdom, shakes, moans or sighs when they pray, etc. They are little consolations but we must not seek them, they can become weapons of the adversary to make us believe that we are doing very well spiritually. Beware friends in Christ, pray continually to the Holy Spirit for discernment and to Our Lady to protect you from the enemy. Pray the Holy Rosary.

Those who are receiving the gifts of grace from the Lord will also experience the attacks of the enemy who comes in our dreams or during events of our lives tempting us, humiliating us and trying to discourage us.

Whatever we do in the new spiritual life, let us us always do in the name of Jesus, thanking our Heavenly Father for His gifts and living our lives consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the most perfect of all creatures, She is the Immaculate Conception, in other words She reflects perfectly the image of God that Adam and Eve reflected before they committed sin. She was conceived without sin by a very special Grace of God Who made Her full of Grace, She grew in that Grace and later was requested to become the Mother of the Word of God Who took flesh and blood from Her and became man. The Conception of Our Lord happened by the action of the Holy Spirit in the virginal womb of Mary [Luke 1:35].

This spousal between the Holy Spirit and Mary is the most intimate encounter between God and man. Out of this fruitful union came Our Blessed Lord Who being God humbled Himself to clothe Himself with our humanity, remaining a prisoner in the womb of the Blessed Virgin for nine months and accompanying Her during thirty years of His life.

By the spousal with the Holy Spirit, Our Lady was anointed and sanctified, She cooperated with the Holy Spirit in so far as becoming His most perfect instrument. No one can claim that they could be as useful to God as Mary is. This is why Our Lady says humbly, The Lord has done great things in me and holy is His name. All generations shall call me blessed. The Magnificat - Luke 1:46-55 ]

By the action of the Holy Spirit, Mary became the tree of Life. The fruit of this tree is first of all Our Lord Who is the bread of life. As we accept Christ into our lives and live a Christian life fulfilling the promises made in our Baptism, we become the children of God who by precedence have the same spiritual mother as His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord. So we are the children of the new Eve, we have been conceived in the spiritual womb of Mary which is Her Immaculate Heart.

No wonder Our Lord said, you must be born again: " You must become a child of Mary".

The Holy Spirit begets the children of God in Mary, He did that first with Our Lord, we are also children of God, children of Mary.

In revelation 12:17 we are told that the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil was very angry with the woman who conceived the child who rules all the nations [Revelation 12:5] whose enmity was stated in [Genesis 3:15]. He, the devil went out to make war to the woman and the rest of her children who accept Mary as Mother ] , those who keep the commandments [Revelation 12:17] and accept the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So this great privilege of being the spouse of the Holy Spirit is unique to Our Blessed Mother, and yet God has made us all temples of His Holy Spirit so that we can be united to Him and love Him as Mary does.

We must become like Mary in order to receive these great gifts of God, we must learn to love God the way She loves Him: as a perfect daughter of God the Father, as a perfect mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ and as the perfect spouse of the Holy Spirit. Amen**
 
The children of Mary are those who:

keep the commandments of God (necessity of the moral life–not once saved always saved so it doesn’t matter what I do)

AND

bear witness to Jesus Christ.

Witness in Greek is martyrion, from which we get the word martyr.

First we die to self. He must increase, I must decrease!
–John the Baptist.

Then, as we are graced to live and share the Gospel, what will the consequences be? Loss of the esteem of the world (the pride of life), perhaps position and power and wealth, maybe even family members and friends. Pick up the cross. Remember, it ain’t made of styrofoam with wheels. It’s heavy, it digs into your shoulder, your straining back hurts.

The white martyrdom (martyrdom without execution) is much more common than red (murdered, executed martyrs).

But who knows, the way things are going in this world, perhaps our spiritual life is preparing us for the red.

Better red than [eternally] dead!

Holy Spirit, give me the holy boldness and the courage to do what is best in each moment, for myself and for others, even if it takes more courage than what I possess. For you are the Lord and Giver of Life! You overshadowed Mary and gave us the incarnate Lord. You made John the Baptist dance in the womb before the Ark of the Lord, Mary Most Holy, Theotokos! You filled Elizabeth long before the day of Pentecost (Luke 1:41). You birthed the Church on Pentecost, and I can imagine Mary telling the others, “Oh, man, you’re gonna love this!” You woo each soul and create us anew and enlighten our minds to heavenly truth. You console us in our brokenheartedness and poverty of spirit. You descend on our altars to turn ordinary bread and wine into the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who feeds us unto immortality. Thank you, O Great Spirit, for your many gifts and graces!

Veni, Creator Spiritus!

(Thank you for permitting me to have a devotional moment.)
Liz

Actually it’s Elizabeth Mary. My name is the Visitation!
Magnificat!
 
the greater the desire to be closer to God, the greater and stronger the temptation to sin is.
 
I hear a lot of this stuff on catholic radio through the day. I hear a lot about opening up to the Holy Spirit and live a more holy life, grow closer to God, reject the world, etc. That’s fine, I think that’s what we should all do, and that’s what we are called to do. Here’s my problem: I don’t live in a vacuum. I am not cloistered in a convent. I’m not consecrated to any group. I live in the real world, I’ve got a job. I go to work. I’ve got a family to feed and care for. How do we apply these ideas of growing closer to God and opening up to the Holy Spirit and strive to be more holy people in every day life? I mean real, practical advice, too.

Because I can listen to people talk about this. And read writing urging us to do this. But no one ever offers real world advice. How do I apply this when I’ve also got work on my mind and things to worry about at home? What do I do when my family needs me to work and be in the world to support them? How do I strive to be more holy when I also have worries of the world that holds me here?

I suppose I could not think about it and plan to figure it out someday when I retire. But what if I don’t make it that long? How do I find ways to weave God and holiness into my life as I live IN the world without falling prey to that world?

That’s my question.
 
thomasf said:
Here’s my problem: I don’t live in a vacuum. I am not cloistered in a convent. I’m not consecrated to any group. I live in the real world, I’ve got a job. I go to work. I’ve got a family to feed and care for. How do we apply these ideas of growing closer to God and opening up to the Holy Spirit and strive to be more holy people in every day life? I mean real, practical advice, too.
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I had this question, too. Reading some of the lives of Saints, like Teresa of the Child Jesus, I discovered that life in a convent is not devoid of work. The nuns do not simply pray all day. The garden needs to be tended, meals cooked and cleaned up after, bills paid, etc etc. We need to make our work our offering, that we do everything that we do for God and make it holy by consecrating our work to Him. We can do this with a morning offering and a conscious effort to be mindful of Him all through the day. A holy picture on your desk can help keep Him in mind.

Get into the habit of praying every time you get in your car. I made up this one: “Lord, watch over my driving. Let me not, through any fault of my own, through inattentiveness or negligence, cause death or injury to any person or animal or damage to any property. May Your loving protection be ever over me. If I should be injured, may You grant me the grace to endure it with your praise in my heart. If I should die, may you forgive me my sins and bring me to everlasting life, with You in Your Kingdom where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.” The way traffic is these days, we need all the charity we can muster.

When you sit at your desk or whatever task you undertake, ask the Lord’s help with your what you are doing and with your colleagues.
From Saint Gertrude the Great:
St. Gertrude the Great felt keenly for those whose burdens involved them in distracting duties, for example, those responsible for meeting the debts of the monestary. She prayed that they might have more time to pray and fewer distractions.
The Lord answered, “It does not matter to me whether you perform spiritual exercises or manual labour, provided only that your will is directed to me with a right intentions. If I took pleasure only in your spiritual exercises, I should certainly have reformed human nature after Adam’s fall so that it would not need food, clothing or the other things that man must find or make with such effort.”
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I’d give a link, but I forgot where I found this. It made such an impression on me (I’m a bookkeeper/accountant) that I printed it out and it sits on my desk.

The use of pious invocations during the day can be a way to keep God close to our hearts. Pick one or two and make them your favourites to be used in any situation where you find yourself tempted by the world, either to sin or to a lack of charity in dealing with others.

catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/documentText/Index/2/SubIndex/0/ContentIndex/551/Start/547

From the Enchiridion of Indulgences:

hismercy.ca/content/ebooks/The.Enchiridion.of.Indulgences.pdf
Examples of Invocations in Customary Use 4
  1. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you; because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. (Roman Breviary)
  2. May the Holy Trinity be blessed. (Roman Missal)
  3. Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ commands!
  4. O Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, inflame our hearts with love for you.
  5. O Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in you.
    1 See Rom 8, 15 and Gal 4, 6.
    2 See Job 1, 21.
    3 Jdt 15, 16; see Ps 85, 10.
    4 Other invocations, as expressed in the vernacular, may be found in commonly used prayer-books. For example,
    in English, My Jesus, mercy (proposed by St. Leonard of Port Maurice); Virgin Mary, Mother of God, make us saints (proposed by St. Joseph Cafasso).
    The Enchiridion Of Indulgences
    42
  6. O Heart of Jesus, all for you.
  7. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
  8. My God and my all.
  9. O God, have mercy on me, a sinner (Lk 18, 13).
  10. Grant that I may praise you, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against your enemies.
    (Roman Breviary)
  11. Teach me to do your will, because you are my God (Ps 142, 10).
  12. O Lord, increase our faith (Lk 17, 5).
  13. O Lord, may we be of one mind in truth and of one heart in charity.
  14. O Lord, save us, we are perishing (Mt 8, 25).
  15. My Lord and my God (Jn 20, 28).
  16. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
  17. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. (Roman Missal)
  18. Jesus, Mary, Joseph.
  19. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, may I sleep and rest in peace with you. (Roman Ritual)
  20. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like your Heart. (Roman Ritual)
  21. May the Most Blessed Sacrament be praised and adored forever.
  22. Stay with us, O Lord (Lk 24, 29).
  23. Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.
  24. My Mother, my Hope.
  25. Send, O Lord, laborers into your harvest (see Mt 9, 38).
  26. May the Virgin Mary together with her loving Child bless us. (Roman Breviary)
  27. Hail, O Cross, our only hope. (Roman Breviary)
  28. All you holy men and women of God, intercede for us. (Roman Ritual)
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thomasf said:
I hear a lot of this stuff on catholic radio through the day. I hear a lot about opening up to the Holy Spirit and live a more holy life, grow closer to God, reject the world, etc. …

How do I apply this when I’ve also got work on my mind and things to worry about at home? What do I do when my family needs me to work and be in the world to support them? How do I strive to be more holy when I also have worries of the world that holds me here?

I suppose I could not think about it and plan to figure it out someday when I retire. But what if I don’t make it that long? How do I find ways to weave God and holiness into my life as I live IN the world without falling prey to that world?

That’s my question.
Click to expand...
You are very right that we never know what holds for us tomorrow.
That is exactly why we all need to be ready all the time.

Why should there be any contradiction between our daily obligations and working toward holiness? We are all given opportunities to be holy in our daily lives. If we do everything with the love of God in our hearts and give our best for the sake of honoring God, we are working toward holiness.

For example, when you go to work, you give your 100% to fulfill your duty, you carry out all your responsibilities with integrity, you respect your superior’s authority, you are kind to your co-workers and subordinates, you are patient, never be rude, you don’t gossip, don’t complain, you have a good team spirit, you never take anyone else’s credit or stab anyone’s back, you are always helpful and pleasant, then you are weaving virtues into your work place.

At home, you are a good husband, a good father, you live a genuine Gospel life, you are loving and considerate to your wife and children, you put others benefit and interest in front of yours,
you have a good spirit of sacrifice and self-denial, you are pure in thoughts and careful about what you read and watch, you set a good example for your children inside out, if you do anything wrong, you won’t hesitate to apologize and go to confession, if anyone offends you, you are ready to forgive. And you do the same with your friends, relatives, and neighbors.
You are working toward holiness.

If you read God’s Word, keep them in mind and follow the Bible teachings, if you have a good prayer life, if you make efforts to build a living relationship with God, if you receive all the Sacraments, and if you share your treasures and talents with your Church family, you are on the right track.

All mentioned above can be achieved along with your daily duties and routines.

Have you read St. Therese, the Little Flower’s “Little Way”?
If not, I highly recommend her work.

Have you read Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence of God” ?
This is another highly recommended classic.

Also, St. Francis de Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life” is one of my favorite.
It is a must read for anyone who wants to reach holiness.
 
This is all good advice. I appreciate these suggestions. I get tired of hearing people preaching about not living in the world and being open to the Holy Spirit, but then talk in abstract terms. Sometimes I need help going through the day and being open to the spirit. It’s not an easy thing to do when you aren’t used to being open and being faithful.
 
thomasf;407008*3:
This is all good advice. I appreciate these suggestions. I get tired of hearing people preaching about not living in the world and being open to the Holy Spirit, but then talk in abstract terms. Sometimes I need help going through the day and being open to the spirit. It’s not an easy thing to do when you aren’t used to being open and being faithful.
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****Well here it is in a nut shell and few words.

Take only ONE MINUTE at a time smile without complaining, when you see people, animals every thing God made it all. Why worry about what you will eat (you have a job) smile be happy in God.**

Godbless
 
I own my own business. So I’ve got not only me to worry about, but my family, my employees, and my customers, my business, the weather, equipment, etc etc etc. Especially during the busy times, it gets to be very hectic, working 16 hour days where you don’t have much time to eat and sleep let alone pray or think about God. Then because you aren’t praying and are worried and drifting into dispair at times, you feel like you can’t pray because you haven’t prayed, and you feel like you’re letting God down. Then a barrier gets built up in your mind because you don’t feel worthy. And that leads you to succombing to sin because you aren’t praying and don’t feel especially holy or christian, and lacking in grace. And you go to confession hoping that it will turn things around but you really can’t change things anyway because you’re still working 16 hour days and not seeing your wife and family and worrying about everything and still not praying and not feeling holy.

So having practical advice about how to break that up and find time to pray and respond to God calling out to you is very helpful. Whereas someone on the radio or tv giving you a guilt trip because you’re not responding to the spirit and have too many concerns in worldly issues doesn’t exactly call out to you.
 
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