Veni Sancti Spiritus!

Learn something new everyday

I guess it’s natural to learn more about yourself as you get older huh? I think it’s more about a new found awareness than actually learning anything new. For instance, garlic and bananas don’t agree with me. Yet, I’ve eaten them for years and have suffered the consequences. You’d think it would have occurred to me before the age of 50 that I shouldn’t be eating them. But……no! Life gets in the way and “ain’t no body got time for that!” Something else I’ve figured out – the idea of sewing overwhelms me (even though I do “attempt” to sew every now and then)! Go ahead and laugh MS! My latest epiphany………..WINTER is actually my favorite season!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Sure, Spring and Fall are each distinctly beautiful. It’s easy to love seasons that bring so much beauty, color and wonder to our senses. But there’s something to be said about the beauty of Winter with its bare trees and frigid temps.

Ever hear the phrase “less is more?” That’s how I feel about Winter. Less distraction, more introspection. It’s probably why I truly love the Advent and Christmas seasons. The idea of curling up in front of the fireplace with my Bible and other reads literally warms my heart and soul. During Advent and Christmas I look forward to spending my first few waking hours in stillness, strengthening my relationship with the Lord.

Unlike Spring and Fall, there’s not much to see or do outdoors in Winter. There’s less distraction – less desire to be outside in a world bustling with activity. Winter is for hibernation, not just for bears but, for us humans too. Unlike animal hibernation, human hibernation has more to do with an awakened state rather than a dormant state. Nature’s time to sleep is our time for awakening our senses to the Presence of God. How awesome is that?!

Id like to share something I recently read in Monastery Journey to Christmas by Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-LaTourrette (the headings are my own). It made me realize why I feel so elated during Advent. Advent graces!! Such comfort and joy!!

Sancti Spiritus

During these peaceful and calm Advent days, there is a mysterious presence felt in our prayers and readings, a presence of whom little is spoken. It is the subtle, mysterious, almost incomprehensible presence of the Holy Spirit. We know through faith that from all eternity, in the intimate council of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit was assigned the work of the Incarnation. It was by his mighty power that the Son of God became incarnate in the Virgin Mary. The Incarnation of God’s Son, willed by the Father long before the ages began and totally assented by the Son himself, is the particular and unique operation of the Holy Spirit.

Immersed in love

The more we immerse ourselves in the work of prayer, the more we come to discover something about the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. “It is one thing to believe in God,” Staretz Silouan used to say, “and another to know him.” It is in prayer, and by the direct action of the Holy Sprit, that we come to understand something of the mystery of the Incarnation, of the two natures of Christ: divine and human.

Infused with knowledge

Only the Holy Spirit can communicate to the praying believer something of that splendid union of two different natures and two wills. Infused divine knowledge is a gift from the Holy Spirit, and it is his divine power that opens our hearts and minds to this type of knowledge. It is through experiencing the Holy Spirit interiorly, deep, deep within our souls, that the mystery of Jesus Christ is revealed to us. The Holy Spirit confers on us both faith and grace to arrive at this divine knowledge.

Abundant grace

Advent is a special time to keep close to the Holy Spirit (though we know through faith, all times are his and belong to him!). But Advent and Christmas are periods of abundant graces that flow from the inner life of the blessed Trinity. These graces are channeled into our hearts through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. Humbly, patiently, the Holy Spirit pursues each of us, gradually revealing his divine presence to us, eagerly preparing our hearts to become a worthy manger for the Savior.

Any relationship with God is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who points us to the revelation of Christ. It is the light from the Holy Spirit that illumines our understanding and allows us to apprehend something of that love that instigated the Father to send his beloved and only begotten Son into the world. For indeed, God so loved the world that in the fullness of time, by the action of the Holy Spirit, he sent his Anointed one to be born of a humble maiden in the small forsaken village of Bethlehem.

Conjunction unction

As Christians, as humble disciples of Jesus, we live and have communion with God by unction from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes Christ, the full Christ, into our lives. By this very fact he establishes us in that mysterious communion of love with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “Veni, Sancte, Spiritus.” (excerpt ends here)