COME, HOLY SPIRIT
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created;
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. LET US PRAY.
O God, who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending them the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen
O Holy Spirit, sweet Guest of my soul, abide in me and grant that I may ever abide in Thee.
Day 16
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
Fire always consumes. When it does not, this is indeed a miracle. For we see with Moses and the burning bush that since the bush was not consumed by the fire, the event is recognized as being miraculous (cf. Exodus 3:2-3). Thus, we should not be surprised that to be contained within the fiery love of Our Lord means that we should also be consumed. One could ask what it means to be consumed by the love of Our Lord. For when a candle is burned, it gives off light, but over time the candle becomes less and less. Eventually the light goes out when the wick is used up. Our life, however short, is meant to be used to know, love, and serve Our Lord. In doing this we give Him glory. As we unite ourselves to Our Lord and our love grows strong, we can see that more of Our Lord is present and less of ourselves. When we expend ourselves during our life in loving God, it is a beautiful thing. For as is often said, that which we give away is really the only thing that we can take with us.
Goal: We should strive to be consumed by the love of God.
Sit quietly for five minutes, looking at a crucifix and contemplating Jesus’s words from the Cross: “I thirst” (Jn 19:28).
Day 17
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
In order to keep a fire burning, air is needed. One can think of the Hebrew word רוח (ruah), which means “breath.” In the Garden of Eden, God brought life to people through His breath.
Air sustains fire. In many ways we can see how God sustains us through His breath, or grace. A person experienced in the ways of building fires knows that it is essential to create space for the air to move around and through a fire. Without the air the fire will go out. Those who fight forest wildfires will often say while a strong wind is blowing, there is no hope of putting out a fire.
We have not spoken about the mother in Gabriel’s family. But be assured that a mother exists. We have a Heavenly Father, and we also have a Heavenly Mother. When we feel a cool breeze, may we think of Our Heavenly Mother. She is of great assistance in not letting our fire be extinguished. She loves each of her children, and she also loves Our Lord. Thus, she is most attentive to see that we do not stray far from Our Lord. Our Heavenly Mother, also known under the title Our Lady of Sorrows, experienced great suffering in her life. She remained without sin, and yet she still experienced suffering. Our Lord loved his Mother, and the fact that her heart is often depicted with seven swords piercing it is a confirmation that suffering is a great gift given to those most dear to God.
Goal: Our Blessed Mother is there to help our fire to never go out.
Sit quietly for five minutes, looking at a crucifix, and imagine you are at the foot of the Cross kneeling next to Our Blessed Mother.
Day 18
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
There is a purifying nature to fire. Many times in Scripture we hear of the necessity of purification through fire. One such passage is found in the Book of Malachi:
But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand firm when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like fullers’ lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold or silver, that they may bring offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in ancient days, as in years gone by (Malachi 3:2-4).
In the book of Daniel, we hear, “Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; the wicked shall have no understanding, but those with insight shall” (Daniel 12:10). Understanding the value of suffering and purification is a gift. Sorry is the soul who fails to understand that purification in this life is always more desirable than in the next. Worse yet if we find our wood with mortal decay at the end of our life, we lose our chance at purification, and our soul may be lost for eternity.
When soil in a garden is found to have contamination and disease, there is a recommendation to either allow the soil to remain fallow for seven years or to burn it. For many farmers the idea of not using one’s soil for seven years for planting is not an appealing thought. Farmers have another option: fire. It is a much faster means of purification. Fire has the ability to purify completely and efficiently. St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, related after a period of three years of intense suffering which she and her family experienced due to her father’s illness, “Precious and sweet was this bitter cross, and our hearts only breathed out sighs of grateful love. We no longer walked—we ran, we flew along the path of perfection.”4 In this we see how effective suffering can be in purifying our souls and allowing us to grow in sanctity.
Goal: Fire in the form of suffering is a means for purification.
Sit quietly for five minutes, and imagine yourself just being at the foot of the Cross to silently show your love to Jesus.
Day 19
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. . .
The boy in the story also represents each of us individually. He allows us to step back, as it were, and observe the relationship we have as the wood in the fire of God’s love. Our Lord calls us to draw close and learn as in a school—to see how He approaches a soul and draws a soul to His heart, to His embrace. For Our Lord calls our name each day to come and rest with Him, to be with Him in prayer. But so often we ignore the call or begin not to even hear it. He patiently waits. In His longing He will try to make His call heard. Suffering is, indeed, an invitation to draw close to God. It helps to remove the noise that can obscure His daily call. For if we ignore God and spend our life in sole service of ourselves and the pursuit of worldly things, we will have empty hands to show to God when we meet Him as we pass from this world. How sad we will be for the lost time, for we can never go back.
Goal: Jesus waits for our love.
Sit quietly for five minutes, and imagine yourself just being at the foot of the Cross to silently show your love to Jesus.
Resources
The retreat can be done using a physical book, watching one our videos each day or with our online Consecration journey. Both the videos and online readings are free to use so there is no obstacle to starting! We have a whole website designed just to support the Consecration journey.