Read this week's message from Father Don
Dear friends,
THREE WRITINGS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
CHRIST, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among his members to:
· Nourish
· Heal
· Organize them in their mutual functions
· Give them life
· Send them to bear witness
· Associate them to his self-offering to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world (Catholic Catechism 739)
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FOUND WORTHY to become children of God and also to be born again through the Holy Spirit – these people are guided by the Spirit in various ways and led forward by grace working invisibly in the inner peace of their hearts.
Let us pray to God, pray with great love and hope, that he may give us the heavenly grace of the Spirit. Let us pray that the Spirit may guide us and lead us, following God’s will in every way, and may re-make us in stillness and in quiet. Thanks to his guidance and spiritual strengthening, may we be found worthy to attain the perfection and fullness of Christ. As St Paul says: that you may be filled to the complete fullness of Christ. (From a 4th C. sermon)
THE SPIRIT DWELLS IN THE CHURCH and in the hearts of the faithful as in a temple. He prays in them and bears witness in them to their adoption as sons. He leads the Church into all truth and gives it unity in communion and in service. He endows it with different hierarchical and charismatic gifts, directs it by their means, and enriches it with his fruits.
The Holy Spirit not only sanctifies and guides God’s people by the sacraments and the ministries, and enriches it with virtues, he also distributes special graces among the faithful of every state of life, assigning his gifts to each as he chooses. By means of these special gifts he equips them and makes them eager for various activities and responsibilities that benefit the Church in its renewal or its increase, in accordance with the text: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for a good purpose. (Vatican II. Lumen Gentium 4, 12.)
Love,
Father Don