Beloved Holy Spirit, one of Your wonderful gifts is peace. It is a peace that the world cannot give (cf Jn 14:27), but neither can it take. This points to a peace different from the peace we usually know – it is a peace that lasts. Read More
Showing all posts in Reflexion
Seventh Meditation on the Holy Spirit: The Kindness
Holy Spirit, it is said of You that You are a kind and human loving Spirit, and that a fruit that You make grow in the human soul is kindness!
Kindness is an agreeable attitude of man by which one easily wins the other person and makes him feel loved and acknowledged! And if this kindness is without falsehood – which it is without doubt, if it matures in the soul as a fruit of Your work – then it is a sun in the life of man! It reflects the attitude with which God meets us, because God does not only want us to recognize Him as our Father, but He also wants to be our trusted friend! Read More
Sixth Meditation on the Holy Spirit: The Joy
Beloved Holy Spirit, one of the most wonderful gifts that You can make grow in us as fruit is joy. It is that joy which, like love, makes everything easier and overcomes the weight that life so often brings with it. A joy that is contagious, and gives a ray of light and some comfort to the other person, as long as they are not closed.
Your friend, St. Paul, even tells us to rejoice at all times (cf. Phil 4:4). Read More
Fifth Meditation on the Holy Spirit: The Ascension of Our Lord
Beloved Jesus, what a joy it must have been for You to return to the Father after having accomplished Your work! You were “for a short while made less than the angels” (Heb 2:9), but now You return to the fullness of glory, with which You will return at the end of time.
You had announced the coming of the Paraclete (cf. Jn 16:7), who makes us Your witnesses to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). Read More
Fourth Meditation on the Holy Spirit: The Self-control
Holy Spirit, in the beginning you hovered over the waters (cf. Gen 1:2) and brought order to the chaos. You also want to bring order to the chaos caused by sin, order in our inner and outer life. So much has been confused with original sin and the sins that follow it, that even your friend Paul lamented that a different law dwells in his spirit than in his body and – worse still – that he follows the law of the flesh (cf. Rom 7:23). With him we lament: Who will deliver me from this body? (cf. Rom 7:24) Read More
Third Meditation on the Holy Spirit: Gentleness
Beloved Holy Spirit, You gentle soul guest,
let grow in us the spirit of gentleness,
that spirit that permeates everything,
that transforms and softens our heart,
purifying it from all hardships;
that is as mild as Your wonderful Bride, our Mother. Read More
Second Meditation on the Holy Spirit: A pure heart
Beloved Holy Spirit, come You, the eternal and pure light and penetrate us, so that nothing can remain hidden from You, no shadow can live on in our soul, every darkness may go away and everything be inflamed by Your love. Awaken us from all inertia and purify our heart so that it may love as God loves; love as You love, so that You and I may be intimately united in the praise of the glory of God.
O God, create in me a pure heart, renew a right spirit within me. (Ps 51:10) Read More
First Meditation on the Holy Spirit: Longanimity
We begin today with daily meditations until Pentecost, interrupted only on the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, with a reflection on the feast day. May they help us to grasp the wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit more deeply!
First meditation:
“You Holy Spirit, you kiss of the Father and of the Son, you sweetest and most intimate kiss” (Saint Bernard of Clairveaux), we want to know and love you better. Therefore, descend into our soul, “like the sun which illuminates everything where it finds no obstacle. Reach out like an arrow of flame to the deepest part of our soul. You do not rest in proud hearts and high spirits; rather you open your dwelling in humble souls” (St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi). Read More
The Path of Illumination and Unification
It is certainly the “path of purification” which is in the foreground at the beginning and which we will have to deal with throughout our lives. That is why I have devoted most of my attention to this area. This path also includes what in mysticism is called the “dark night of the soul”. Read More
The path of purification, Part 3: Restraining the tongue
In preparing for this reflection, I looked at my text from 15 October 2020 for the sake of the importance of this topic. I consider it so important in our context that I am adopting a large part of it today. It is often said that repetition is the mother of wisdom. And indeed, we repeat prayers, words of the Holy Scriptures and much more in order to imprint them more deeply in our minds. In the same way, we should keep repeating essential aspects of our spiritual life. The bridling of our tongue is essential if the path of holiness is to unfold organically. Read More