The Holy Spirit. Tuesday, April 15. Lent 2014.

Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

People all over the world will hear those words soon.

Confirmation.

The sacrament of the Holy Spirit.

Confirming the graces received at Baptism.

Preparing hearts for the spiritual battle

of good versus evil fighting for your soul.

I help out with the Confirmation classes

and am a sponsor this year,

needless to say,

I am incredibly excited for this day to come.

The gifts and graces that come along with this sacrament are just beautiful.

The call and the challenge that comes with this sacrament are equally incredible.

But all that comes with this sacrament is not limited to just the day of Confirmation.

The Holy Spirit will actively work in each of our lives if we invite Him.

He has many gifts and graces to offer, too many to pass up.

The Holy Spirit imparts wisdom and understanding.

The ability to know and understand Christ that He may live within us.

Wisdom to know and understand the beauty of the Church.

The strength to stand up for the Church.

“The function of the Holy Spirit is to produce and form Jesus Christ within Christians. The Holy Spirit is the craftsman of the spiritual progress of Christians that they may grow from strength to strength and from grace to grace, toward maturity in Christ. He is the source of Wisdom.”

The Holy Spirit challenges us.

Challenges our very being.

“The Holy Spirit calls the soul to perfection. He realizes this perfection by a fiery deluge of pure love; He sets us ablaze with His love; He is also the divine sculptor who shapes and polishes the stones of the heavenly Jerusalem. As the Spirit of truth, He enlightens us. As the Spirit of godliness, He purifies us and sanctifies us. As the Spirit of strength, He fortifies us. The master of all knowledge, He teaches us to know ourselves.”

He challenges us for a purpose.

To become new creations in Christ.

“But remember that only molten and liquefied substances may be poured into a mold. That means that you must crush and melt down the old Adam in you if you wish to acquire the likeness of the new Adam.”

Humbly going to the Holy Spirit,

seeking wisdom and understanding,

gives us a new way of seeing Christ,

our spiritual journey,

the Church,

ourselves.

Melting down our pride

makes way for humility to be poured

and formed in our lives.

May we all be open to receiving the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit that come along with the words: 

Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit…

continuously throughout our lives

And what a gift that is!  

This Lenten blog series is based upon St. Louis de Montfort's writings. Unless otherwise noted, all the phrases in quotation marks are taken from the book Jesus Living in Mary.