“Do not anticipate the Holy Spirit” (Inner Word).
The sending of the Holy Spirit is a great gift of the Heavenly Father to us human beings. Jesus had told His disciples how important His descent would be, and commanded them to wait for Him (Acts 1:4). In fact, it was the Holy Spirit who made them capable of proclaiming the Gospel with authority by making His seven gifts effective in them.
Important for our meditation today is the Lord’s command that the disciples should wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit and not anticipate carrying out the task that Jesus had already entrusted to them.
We too must learn to wait for the Holy Spirit. In our various actions, we are often led by our human nature or simply by what reason dictates. But then they are not yet mature in the spiritual sense and are therefore often precipitate.
The masters of the spiritual life remind us that our human nature is limited and that we cannot be certain that what we think or do is always the best thing to do in a given situation.
The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is not subject to this fallibility. When an impulse or instruction truly comes from Him and we obey Him, we gain certainty in our thinking and acting. But for this to happen, it is necessary that we know the Holy Spirit better and understand His impulses and His way of leading us.
For this to happen, it is important to enter into dialogue with Him and to remain in this dialogue. If we want to live and mature as spiritual people, we should always consult the Holy Spirit on important matters. The more familiar we are with Him, the more subtly He can guide us, so that we realize when we are anticipating rather than waiting for the Holy Spirit and with Him the right moment.