Hello, Holy Spirit!

In the Protestant home and church I grew up in, for reasons that I don’t understand, we didn’t focus much on the Holy Spirit. We didn’t focus much on the Holy Trinity, either. We often talked about God, but more often than not, we talked about Jesus.

“Thank you, Jesus!” and “Praise the Lord!” were common utterances when we were happy or thankful. Most prayers began, “Dear Lord,” and always, always, always ended with, “In Jesus’ name, Amen!” I don’t remember learning much about the Holy Spirit, except that the Holy Spirit promised to guide us into all Truth. Different Truths were apparently okay and always explained away.

So the Holy Spirit has been somewhat of a Mystery to me – as, no doubt, He should be! But more than that, I’ve never really developed a strong relationship with the Third Person of God, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised to send us the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Advocate. But unless we pause and dig deeply into this Mystery, we can’t enjoy the fullness of what the Holy Spirit has to offer.

It wasn’t until I embraced my Catholic Faith that I learned what the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were: Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord and Wisdom. And I have a long way to go in grasping the fullness of Who the Holy Spirit is, recognizing, of course, that I’ll not have that fullness until I see God Face-to-face.

I’ve decided to pray a Novena to the Holy Spirit, and record my reflections. Through these nine days of prayer, it is my hope that I will develop a closer bond to the Holy Spirit and grow in Faith.

Come, Holy Spirit!