While
preaching the Gospel, Christ presented us with the prime condition
for the Holy Spirit to work in us: "Ask and you will receive".
He made it clear: it is about asking for the Holy Spirit. So in a way
we may translate it this way: “Ask for the Holy Spirit and you will
receive Him”. Jesus showed another condition for receiving the Holy
Spirit: “if you do not become like children, you will not enter
into the Kingdom of God”, namely,“if you want to have the
experience of the action of the HolySpirit in you, you need to have a
child's disposition: total trust, total surrender, humility, relying
on God's Help,... It is a clear choice we need to make in our
relationship with God.
But
there are many questions that arise: 1- What if we don't ask, or act
toward the Holy Spirit the way Jesus indicated to us? Will we still
receive the Holy Spirit, be under his influence? 2- What does “to
ask” mean exactly? 3- What does "asking" realise in us?
4- Do we have different qualities in our demand (asking with
different degrees of intensity)? We can ask, for example, with "all
our heart, all our energy", and we can ask in a superficial way.
5- How much of the
journey is up to us to work on, and how much is it us just waiting
for God’s Action? 6- We know contemplation is an infused gift from
God (infused: given directly from God without our merit). But can
participating in the sacraments, prayer, ascetical life, be seen as a
preparation for this Gift?
Note:
One can use the expression “Grace of God” instead of “Holy
Spirit”.
There
are various aspects to the answer. Of course here we are at the heart
of the Theology of Grace, but I would like to address the answer in a
practical way. In Theology, the constant threat is to give a perfect
theoretical answer, sound and orthodox, but a) not understandable by
Joe Public and b) not having any visible and understandable practical
implications, i.e. how can I receive the Holy Spirit in practice.?
What am I supposed to do (or learn to do) in order to receive the
Holy Spirit? How can I know and discern if I am really receiving the
Holy Spirit? Do I feel the difference? Can I trigger the reception?
If so, can I trigger it at any time? Do I need to spend a large
section of the journey, a long time, in the necessary preparatory
stage?
Indulge
me, please, as I lay down the foundations of the answer: first and
foremost, the most powerful means and moments for receiving the Holy
Spirit are the two moments at the Table of the Eucharist when we
ingest Jesus: the Bread of Jesus' Word and the Bread of His Body and
Blood. So learning how to derive nourishment from these two aspects
of the one and unique Bread, Jesus himself, is very important. Eating
is a long and complete process, that goes from ingesting, to
assimilation, passing through masticating and digesting. For this
reason, we need to consider that mastering the two processes of
“digestion and assimilation” of these two aspects of the Living
Bread, namely Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart,
is central for the correct and fruitful reception of the Holy Spirit.
There
are constant laws that govern a) Spiritual Life in general and in
particular b) Lectio Divina and c) Prayer of the Heart.
These laws, if understood well, and if the perception and
implementation of them is correct, will allow the Holy Spirit to be
received constantly and effectively, that is, abundantly, on a daily
basis, when growth will be triggered.
Now
are these laws the same throughout the journey of Spiritual Life (in
a diachronic way)? Aren't there moments where it is easier to
receive the grace of God and others where it is “hard-work”?
It
is true that there is a growth curve, where in the beginning the “old
man” in us, that is, our original selves given over to worldly
temptations/desires, (old man presupposes former knowledge) is
bigger and therefore more active than the “new man”, that is the
new more spiritual self, and therefore it is more difficult for the
person to be docile to the Action of the Holy Spirit. It is true as
well, that after the purification realised by the Holy Spirit it
becomes easier to be docile, so the direct and personal action of the
Holy Spirit flows more smoothly. These changes in ease, in learning
how He works and how we need to respond, however, do not remove the
general “law” of dealing with the Holy Spirit.
In
this sense, the answer to question 5 (“How
much of the journey is up to us to work on, and how much is it us
just waiting for God’s Action?”) is: throughout the journey and
at any moment on the journey there are constant things that we should
learn: we remain free, masters of our own decisions, till the end.
Being transformed in God does not make us less free, on the contrary.
Adam did sin while he was in the Presence of God and St Teresa of
Avila gives a stern warning in the Seventh Mansion of The
Interior Castle when,
as an example, she mentions
the risk of sinning is still there where King Solomon, who started
his life well, ended it badly. The message is: there is no “safe
state”.
Using our free will,
then, is something that remains necessary always. Our docility to the
Holy Spirit never transforms us into “puppets” in the hands of
the Puppeteer. Even when the will of God and our will coincide
perfectly in the state of “Union with God”, also known as
“Spiritual Marriage”, even when transformed in the Holy Spirit
and being totally docile to Him, we remain free (even freer than
before) and God waits for us to see what we will do, or waits for a
repeated act of Love, i.e. an act of oblation/offering of ourselves
to Him. This will not change!
Two
Main Ways the Holy Spirit Works
The
“Sacred Threshold”
If
we read the Gospel of Saint Matthew for instance, we will rapidly
notice the abundant use he makes of the word “kingdom”. In fact,
Jesus repeatedly speaks about “entering the kingdom” and in doing
so, He lays down conditions. For instance: if you are rich you cannot
enter into the Kingdom; if you are not “like a child” the same is
true, you cannot enter. What is the “Kingdom of God”, or the
“Kingdom of heaven”? The Kingdom is the area of God, the “space”
of His being, the “space” of His freedom, of His Life, the inner
life of the Trinity.
To
enter this “space” we need to consider the role of grace and its
two aspects. In her writings, Saint Teresa of Avila mentions the
"General help" and the "Particular help" of the
Grace of God or of the Action of the Holy Spirit in us (see Life
14,6; 3 Mansions
1,2; 5 Mansions
2,3). We can understand the “Particular help of the Grace of God”
as the fact of “entering into the Kingdom”. Or, if we prefer, it
can be understood as the direct and personal Action of the Holy
Spirit in us. In the "Prayer of Recollection", the initial
stage of Prayer of the Heart where we focus on the Lord and offer
ourselves to Him, the Holy Spirit uses His "general help"
and in the "Prayer of Quiet", which follows when He starts
to act in us, He uses His "particular help". Saint
Theresa of Avila calls the latter: "the supernatural" (see
Fourth Mansions, chapter 1,1).
Between the “general help” and
the “particular help” of the Holy Spirit there is a
red line, a “sacred
threshold”. At any moment on
the journey of spiritual growth we are invited to cross that “Sacred
Threshold” by using the “general help of the Holy Spirit”,
offering ourselves to Him, asking for His Holy Spirit (His Love).
Here
is what saint Theresa of Avila says:
"For
many purposes it is necessary to be learned; and it would be very
useful to have some learning here, in order to explain what is meant
by general or particular help (for there are many who do not know
this) and how it is now the Lord's will that the soul should see this
particular help (as they say) with its own eyes; and learning would
also serve to explain many other things about which mistakes may be
made." (Life 14,6)
She
will then explain that in order to practise the "Prayer of
Recollection" we need to use the "General help" of the
Grace of God that is constantly being given to us. We should use it,
until the “Prayer of Recollection” becomes like a new acquired
habit (see “Way of Perfection”
chapters 26, 28 and 29). To this act of “recollection” God
replies with His Action (the Direct and Personal Action of the Holy
Spirit). She calls this action: “Prayer of Quiet”. In the "Prayer
of Quiet", we are receiving the "Particular
help" of the Grace of God
that is supernatural
(4Mansions 1,1) and infused.
These
notions belong to the Theology of Grace that we learn while doing the
basic 4 years of Theology. For instance, Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his
Summa
T., I-II Q.109 a. 6, addresses this issue (see below). He mentions
two needs: one is the main need, which is to receive the Grace of God
(say the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit) "and the
second precedes it: to prepare ourselves to receive this first and
main Grace". We need the second grace in order to receive the
first and main grace, since the grace that prepares us leads us to
the main Grace, "knowing the existence of this preparative
grace, and learning how to use it" are decisive and vital for
all our spiritual life, worship and Christian life.
This
preparative grace is "the general help of the Grace of God"
(that, so to speak, helps us move in the water from the bottom of the
sea to the surface), that we use in the “Prayer of Recollection”,
to get closer to God, offering ourselves to Him, putting ourselves in
the Hands of God.
The
Main grace is when He comes, takes us and put us in Him: this is the
particular help of His grace, the main action of the Holy Spirit that
puts us in a direct and personal relationship with the Risen Lord.
When
Jesus says: “ask and you shall receive” He is just explaining the
relationship between the “general help” (“ask”) and the
“particular help” (“you will receive”) and the sacred
threshold between them, this “red line” that defines the meeting
point of the two freedoms: God's freedom (the kingdom) and our
freedom (using the general help in order to show our choice, ask,
beg, knock, ...)
Let
us cross that “sacred threshold”, for this is our vocation, our
call. We need, first, to learn about it, and, second, put it into
practice, in order to receive the Action of God in our heart.
St
Thomas Aquinas explains how the Holy Spirit works
Here
is the whole article of Saint Thomas Aquinas where he explains the
difference between the “general help of the Grace of God” and the
“particular help of the Grace of God” followed by a short comment
that explains the practical point of it, in continuity with what we
have just seen.
Let
us remember that we are
addressing a very specific issue in the Theology of Prayer, in order
to understand theologically what is the exact difference between the
two types of grace: the one that allows us to offer ourselves to God
("Prayer of Recollection" according to Theresa of Avila)
and the one that takes us and puts us in God Himself ("Prayer of
Quiet").
Here is
Saint Thomas' Article taken from the Summa
Teologica I-IIae Q. 109, A.6:
Can
a man prepare himself for Grace
by
himself and without the external aid of grace?
Saint
Thomas first gives a series of 4 false objections. They seem right
and convincing, but only apparently. They all have a flaw that he
will show subsequently:
Objections
1:
It would seem that man, by himself and without the external help of
grace, can prepare himself for grace. For nothing impossible is laid
upon man, as stated above (A[4], ad 1). But it is written (Zech.
1:3): “Turn ye to Me . . . and I will turn to you”; Now to
prepare for grace is nothing more than to turn to God. Therefore it
seems that man of himself, and without the external help of grace,
can prepare himself for grace.
2:
Further, man prepares himself for grace by doing what is in him to
do, since if man does what is in him to do, God will not deny him
grace, for it is written (Mat. 7:11) that God gives His good Spirit
“to them that ask Him.” But what is in our power is in us to do.
Therefore it seems to be in our power to prepare ourselves for grace.
3:
Further, if a man needs grace in order to prepare for grace, with
equal reason will he need grace to prepare himself for the first
grace; and thus to infinity, which is impossible. Hence it seems that
we must not go beyond what was said first, viz. that man, of himself
and without grace, can prepare himself for grace.
4:
Further, it is written (Prov. 16:1) that “it is the part of man to
prepare the soul.” Now an action is said to be part of a man, when
he can do it by himself. Hence it seems that man by himself can
prepare himself for grace.
Then
Saint Thomas opposes these objections with the "right teaching"
saying:
On
the contrary, It is written (Jn. 6:44): “No man can come to Me
except the Father, Who hath sent Me, draw him.” But if man could
prepare himself, he would not need to be drawn by another. Hence man
cannot prepare himself without the help of grace.
Saint
Thomas develops the "right teaching":
I
answer that, The preparation of
the human will for good is twofold:
-
the first, whereby it is
prepared to operate rightly and to enjoy God; and this preparation of
the will cannot take place without the habitual gift of grace, which
is the principle of meritorious works, as stated above.
-
There is a second way in which
the human will may be taken to be prepared for the gift of habitual
grace itself. Now in order that man prepare himself to receive this
gift, it is not necessary to presuppose any further habitual gift in
the soul, otherwise we should go on to infinity. But we
must presuppose a gratuitous gift of God,
Who moves the soul inwardly or inspires the good wish.
For
in these two ways do we need the Divine assistance, as stated above.
Now that we need the help of God to move us, is manifest. For since
every agent acts for an end, every cause must direct its ? effect to
its end, and hence since the order of ends is according to the order
of agents or movers, man must be directed to the last end by the
motion of the first mover, and to the proximate end by the motion of
any of the subordinate movers; as the spirit of the soldier is bent
towards seeking the victory by the motion of the leader of the army –
and towards following the standard of a regiment by the motion of the
standard-bearer. And thus since God is the First Mover, simply, it is
by His motion that everything seeks to be likened to God in its own
way. Hence Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv) that “God turns all to
Himself.” But He directs righteous men to Himself as to a special
end, which they seek, and to which they wish to cling, according to
Ps. 72:28, “it is good for Me to adhere to my God.” And that they
are “turned” to God can only spring from God's having “turned”
them. Now to prepare oneself for grace is, as it were, to be turned
to God; just as, whoever has his eyes turned away from the light of
the sun, prepares himself to receive the sun's light, by turning his
eyes towards the sun. Hence it is clear that man cannot prepare
himself to receive the light of grace except by the gratuitous help
of God moving him inwardly.
He then addresses each of the first 4
objections in the light of the central teaching he has just stated:
Reply
to Objections
1:
Man's turning to God is by free-will; and thus man is bidden to turn
himself to God. But free-will can only be turned to God, when God
turns it, according to Jer. 31:18: “Convert me and I shall be
converted, for Thou art the Lord, my God”; and Lam. 5:21: “Convert
us, O Lord, to Thee, and we shall be converted.”
2:
Man can do nothing unless moved by God, according to Jn. 15:5:
“Without Me, you can do nothing.” Hence when a man is said to do
what is in him to do, this is said to be in his power according as he
is moved by God.
3:
This objection regards habitual grace, for which some preparation is
required, since every form requires a disposition in that which is to
be its subject. But in order that man should be moved by God, no
further motion is presupposed since God is the First Mover. Hence we
need not go to infinity.
4:
It is the part of man to prepare his soul, since he does this by his
free-will. And yet he does not do this without the help of God moving
him, and drawing him to Himself, as was said above.
__________
Let
us see in detail Saint Thomas' answer: "I
answer that, The
preparation of the human will for good is twofold" He
will then explain the two graces:
1-
The main Grace,
the infused one: this one is the one we need and await in order to
"enter in God" (merit eternal life). This is the particular
help of the Grace of God that introduces us in Him.
2-
and the other grace is the one that prepares
us for it, that leads us to it, that helps our free will to choose
God, go toward Him in order to receive his grace. This is the
"general help of the Grace of God", that leads us to the
"border" or "meeting point", that "prepares
us", makes us ready to receive the Main grace. As one can see,
the second leads to the first one. One cannot separate the "prayer
of recollection" and the "prayer of quiet". One is
ordered to the other. Let us now re-read Saint Thomas in his key
passage:
the
first, whereby it is prepared to operate rightly and to enjoy God;
and this preparation of the will cannot take place without the
habitual gift of grace, which is the principle of meritorious works,
as stated above.
Without
this Grace we cannot be introduced in God, drink God, "enjoy
God" and "operate rightly" in Him. This is the Main
Grace we need from God.
Now,
how can we receive this grace? This is the central issue of this 6th
article. Do we need to help from God to receive the Main infused
supernatural Grace? This article is a key article. Because our
spiritual life is about receiving "Grace upon Grace", and
the question is: how can we receive the Grace? How can we prepare
ourselves? Here comes Saint Thomas' reply:
There
is a second way in which the human will may be taken to be prepared
for the gift of habitual grace itself. Now in order that man prepare
himself to receive this gift, it is not necessary to presuppose any
further habitual gift in the soul, otherwise we should go on to
infinity. But we must
presuppose a gratuitous gift of God,
Who moves the soul inwardly
or inspires the good wish.
This
is the key word: "a gratuitous gift of God". This
gratuitous gift is constantly given, to everybody, it is the "general
help of the grace of God" that Saint Theresa of Avila mentions
(see previous post). We can complete this with his reply to the 4th
objection: "4: It is the part
of man to prepare his soul, since he does this by his free-will. And
yet he does not do this without the [general] help of God moving him,
and drawing him to Himself, as was said above."
As
we can see: it is our part to prepare ourselves in the sense of: "to
go inwardly" as he stated, to get closer to the meeting point
where we are supposed to receive the main grace (in the diagram below
the meeting point is the surface of the water). Moving ourselves and
offering ourselves to God is done by the "General help of the
grace of God, represented by the arrow (1-) in the diagram below:
These
are all together central and practical issues. They are not only the
"Theology of Grace", they are as well the "Economy of
Grace" (i.e. Spiritual Theology) and its application in our
Spiritual Life. In this article we see how "theory" is the
theory of a practical issue, we see how all the theory is invited to
become flesh in us. These notions Saint Thomas is teaching us are
Pearls, Divine Seeds of the Word of God.
What
depends on us
In
order for the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit to work,
two acts should be implemented: one depends on us, and the second
depends on God. Fulfilling our part brings us to the
meeting point (or the
Sacred Threshold) between our freedom and God's one (see above). If
we do not do our part, we will not reach that point, and Prayer will
not work: we do not enter in God, and therefore God does not pour
Himself into us, He cannot transform us in Him. Therefore to know and
do "what depends on us"
is of utmost importance. We need to understand it, learn it and,
mainly, learn to practise it.
In
the 3 following slides we go through "what depends on us":
Is
Contemplation “Acquired” or “Infused”?
The
first part of last century has seen a debate on Contemplation of
momentous proportions between two (if not more) schools of thought.
Today we would have great difficulty in understanding why and how the
schools of Theology fought. It was fierce and it was in the public
domain, through respective Journals. The core of the discussion was:
is contemplation acquired or infused. “acquired” meant: with the
general help of God, I can acquire a (supernatural) habit or state or
capacity to access God. “infused” meant that accessing God,
receiving Contemplation was something that depended totally on God's
freedom, and no meritorious act whatsoever can merit us receiving the
Gift of Supernatural Contemplation.
The
debate was heated and lacked practical insight. It was all purely
theological. There is nothing wrong with it. Both camps considered
the Grace of God, the human free will, and the general interaction,
but from a different stand point. The result is that each camp
remained firm in its belief and no clear bridges were built. The
point is that each camp was right! But the combination of both,
together, on different levels never happened! The debate stopped
toward the end of the 1940s, not because a compromise or a solution
or some clarity were found! No! Just because of battle fatigue became
tired (and the readers lost)!
Now,
can we use these theological categories today? Yes, it is possible,
and the above explanations, either from St Teresa of Avila, St Thomas
Aquinas or from the drawing help us see what is what.
In
the drawing above, “moving in the water” of our being is
something that we all can do, and have to do, using the “general
help of the Holy Spirit” that is given to everybody all the time,
with no conditions! Being taken from the surface of the water to the
Sun (Jesus, the Trinity) depends purely on the direct and personal
action of the Holy Sprit.
But
we need to add two things here:
While
respecting the pure freedom of God (the infused aspect), we need to
add a dimension that the two schools mentioned above failed to
underline with clarity: God has an immense desire to give Himself to
us, because He is Love and love by definition is to give oneself. The
rules of Love and of the communication between the two persons who
love each others need to be known! There are conditions on our part
to fulfil in order to allow Him to give Himself to us!
One
of the schools stressed the total freedom of the Grace of God
reminding us of the theological truth: God gives His grace to whoever
He wants, when He wants, the way He wants. But this is only part of
the truth about God's sovereign freedom and being. Let us be aware
that if we take only one part of the truth, the one just mentioned,
we might end up making of God (God forbid) a capricious being, who
acts according to his mood! How can we complement this truth?
God
is Love and awaits for real love from us. What is love? To love is to
give oneself. So to love Him means to give ourselves to Him. To
produce that act of gifting ourselves.
The
critical question becomes here: can we give ourselves to Him?
If we rely on the diagram of the sea (see above), where the water
symbolises our being and moving in the water depends on the General
Grace of God, given all the time to all baptised, here is then the
question: can we bring ourselves to the surface of the water of our
being? The answer is “yes”. This happens when we use the general
help of the Grace of God to offer ourselves totally to Him.
But
bringing ourselves to the surface of the water doesn't mean that we
can fly!! (That would impinge upon God's domain and freedom).
Thus,
on the drawing, the air-space and the sun not only symbolise God's
Being as well as sovereign freedom, but also the fact that moving in
these mediums depends totally on the Holy Spirit's direct and
personal Action – that is, on infused grace.
In
order to complement the truth that God is totally free to act in us
the way He wants, when He wants, with whom He wants, we next need to
find the answer to this fundamental theological discovery: where is
God? Being Love, being a constant Burning Love for each one of us,
God is standing at the threshold between His being and ours (the
surface of the water). He is waiting for us to appear, to emerge from
the water so He can take us to Himself, introducing us into His
Being, immersing us in Him. This truth re-aligns the possible wrong
impression that one can have dealing solely with the first Truth seen
above (He acts with sovereign freedom, when He wants the way He
wants...), and re-aligns our misconception that we need to wait for
ever (or even worse: to gain merit) for Him to decide and condescend
and deal with us by giving us His direct Grace, the Holy Spirit!
We
need to bear this truth in mind: we can never force ourselves into
God's kingdom (air-space sun in the diagram of the Sea). But like the
Father of the Prodigal son, He is there, at the door of our being,
waiting respectfully for us to appear, to emerge from the water.
Waiting for us to use our free will and express our clear determined
decision to give ourselves to Him! In fact He is waiting for us and
not us for Him. He is constantly available, providing we understand
His language, the language of Love, which means the language of the
mutual gift of oneself.
It
is true that we can't fly to the sun using our own power, or by the
“General help of the Holy Spirit”. He knows it, He knows that it
all depends on Him (this is the infused part), but like the Father of
the Prodigal son, once He sees us producing this act of love, act of
offering ourselves to Him, He doesn't wait saying “oh I am not sure
I really want to give myself”, or “this is really my domain and I
will make him or her wait”... no! He immediately gathers us to Him,
exactly because by our oblation we make all our being available to
Him. He Loves us so much that He died for each one of us and is ready
to die again if that were needed or possible. His is bottomless
yearning to unite Himself to us, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.. His
IS a burning desire, a burning thirst to have each one of us! But He
respects our freedom and awaits for us to come and meet Him at the
mid point between Him and us, just as when two persons shake hands:
their hands reach out at the mid distance!
So
asking ourselves (our initial question): “is contemplation acquired
or infused?” is like looking at the diagram of the Sea and asking
ourselves: “does meeting God happen only by our moving in the water
or by his moving in the air-space and sun?” We need both: we need
to move toward the surface of the water, this depending on us,
because God is constantly giving us the general preparatory grace,
and if we don't use it, nothing will happen. We will remain somewhere
in the midst of the water, and will be only randomly brought to the
surface of the water by a lucky act of Love. And we need to
acknowledge that whenever we reach the surface of the water, by an
act of Love - that we need to learn to do, to perfect and to maintain
as an acquired habit - , He uses His pure power, direct and personal,
and lifts us toward Him, introducing us in Himself, immersing us in
the Transformative Purifying Fire of His Love (the action of the Holy
Spirit).
It
is not either or. It is both, and combined, adding the other part of
the truth, showing where God is standing and waiting and in which
state He holds himself ready - his huge desire to possess/envelop us.
The
answer to this theological question influences a similar old category
of division in Spiritual Theology: the “ascetic” part and the
“mystic” part. Even though these categories are not used anymore,
we need to understand them properly in order to use them correctly if
needed. This would take us of course to a completely different
article/study.
The
Action of the Holy Spirit in us According to St John of the Cross
If
we study with great care and attention the action of the Holy Spirit
in the human being throughout the spiritual journey of growth,
according to St John of the Cross, we will be able to find 8 different types of actions He can perform in us, according to our
purity or degree of transformation. The more the person is purified
by the Holy Spirit the more docile they become to His Action.
1-
Meditation: general help of the Holy Spirit
2-
Contemplation: particular help of the Holy Spirit, with a human
modality.
3-
Contemplation: particular help of the Holy Spirit with a divine
modality.
4-
Spiritual Engagement: visits of the Holy Spirit who starts to be
clearly mentioned and who is called the “lodger” (who prepares
the future bride, who is the future Mansion of the Groom, adorning
her with the virtues to be able to receive the Divine Groom.)
5-
Spiritual Marriage: the soul is united with God and her spirit
becomes so transformed in God that it seems to be like a Flame, and
one spirit with God. She does what the Father and Son do and with
them: aspiring to the Holy Spirit.
6-
Celebration and Transition period: the intensity of the action of the
Holy Spirit increases.
7-
Sparkling: the spirit transformed into the Holy Spirit, and the
intensity having reached a necessary degree, allows the spirit to
start to “sparkle” or send sparkles of flame, with the Holy
Spirit. The human being is said to be able to give the Holy Spirit,
God to God, and to give the Holy Spirit to whoever he or she wants.
The merits of each one of these acts or sparkles are divine! Because
it is the Holy Spirit who acts in them.
8-
Christian Death: it is with a greater and more powerful act of the
Holy Spirit that the soul-spirit are taken up to God, provoking death
(separation of the body from the soul-spirit).
Our
Lady's Place
If
we abandon and surrender ourselves to Our Lady, like a little child,
with complete trust, this allows the Holy Spirit to work better in
us! We become children again, receiving Mary as our Mother. According
to St Luke She is the only one who was able to believe in the
incarnating action of the Holy Spirit, incarnating God's Word in us,
as gloriously evidenced in her unhesitating Fiat at the Annunciation.
To
sum up then one can say that the Holy Spirit's action is to conform
us, mould us, into the resemblance of Jesus! He is Christ-conforming.
Jean
Khoury
