This article is used with permission from divinemercy.org
After
the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles at Pentecost, they were not
afraid. They were filled with holy boldness. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church states: “Through His grace, the Holy Spirit is the first
to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is
to ‘know the Father and the One whom He has sent, Jesus Christ’” (CCC,
684).
When He does speak, which is often, the Spirit elicits from us fruits
of obvious goodness. Saint Paul tells us, “Now the works of the flesh
are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you
before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against
such there is no law” (Gal 5:19-23).
When we allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we become
overshadowed by Him and begin to bear the fruits in our lives. We
“bubble over” with love and joy, and minister by proclaiming the Good
News to people. But we must be quiet and listen. Saint Faustina wrote,
“Oh Spirit of God, Director of my soul, wise is he whom You have
trained! But for the spirit of God to act in the soul, peace and
recollection are needed” (Diary of St. Faustina, 145). And, “A noble and
delicate soul…follows faithfully the faintest breath of the Holy
Spirit; it rejoices in this Spiritual Guest and holds onto Him like a
child to its mother” (148). That is why we must listen to hear the Holy
Spirit, and we must be ready to be His instrument.
Since she was quiet in her soul and heard the Holy Spirit, St.
Faustina, by definition, was a contemplative. She had an intuitive grasp
of the importance of quiet and silence: “The silent soul is capable of
attaining the closest union with God. It lives almost always under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without
hindrance” (477).
Charismatic in Her Joy
However, St. Faustina also was charismatic. She exuded and overflowed
with the joy and love of God. She wrote, “Oh, if souls would only be
willing to listen, at least a little, to the voice of conscience and the
voice—that is, the inspirations—of the Holy Spirit! I say ‘at least a
little,’ because once we open ourselves to the influence of the Holy
Spirit, He Himself will fulfill what is lacking in us” (359). Earlier in
the Diary, St. Faustina shares this gem about her interior life: “in my
interior life I never reason; I do not analyze the ways in which God’s
Spirit leads me. It is enough for me to know that I am loved and that I
love” (293).
We must be filled with the love of God, and we will do His will only
by following the Holy Spirit. If we do, we accomplish great things over
all the earth: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
9/26/15
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