19 May 2010

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit, the Life of the Soul

My God, I adore you, Eternal Paraclete, the light and the life of my soul. You might have been content with merely giving me good suggestions, inspiring grace and helping from without. But in your infinite compassion you have from the first entered into my soul, and taken possession of it. You will go from me, if I sin; and I shall be left to my own miserable self. God forbid; I will use what you have given me; I will call on you when tried and tempted. Through you I will never forsake you.

John Henry Newman

3 comments:

  1. Father, could you explain about the Holy Spirit leaving us, if we sin. Does it mean a mortal sin, or any sin ? And does He come back after we repent, or only after absolution from a priest?

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  2. I think that when we sin we turn away from God and, thereby, reject the Holy Spirit. Since God gives us freedom, he doesn't impose Himself upon us, rather he stands ready to fill our lives but so long as we continue to reject him, by sin, then he leaves us in our own miserable pit of self destruction. In terms of the Holy Spirit returning, then, we have only to believe and confess and He is there with us and in us. Certainly, when we are aware of mortal sin then repentance through the Sacrament of Reconciliation is necessary, as God has deemed, but we stand ready and willing to receive the Holy Spirit through whom all sin is forgiven.

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  3. Thank you Father. That's very helpful.

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