“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
In this past year I feel that God has shown His faithful how much we need The Holy Spirit.
As we approach the Feast of Pentecost I think about how He desires to fill us with His spirit. To elevate us.
And let’s face it, in our times we need to be filled.
I am very blessed to be a part of a wonderful spirit-filled prayer group and in our last two meetings an image has come into my mind:
A hot air balloon being filled with fire and rising.
When an image comes to me in prayer more than once, I take it as God showing me this is very important. I feel in this image of the balloon He is showing His desire to fill us with His Spirit, and for us to be open to this.
A hot air balloon depends on heat from the fire for expansion.
When its interior temperature becomes higher than the colder air outside, it will elevate.
This is like us .
And how we must depend on The Holy Spirit to be filled with divine life.
Without being open to His life within us, we lay dormant.
We can grow cold and complacent in the spiritual life. And God is unable to raise us to the life He desires for us.
A hot air balloon descends to the ground and deflates when the fire is extinguished and no longer provides heat within.
“Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19
But when we are open to the Holy Spirit, He will fill us.
We are transformed interiorly . Our hearts burn within us, making us bouyant. Then God is able to elevate us.
But He needs our permission.
There must be an opening for Him to fill us.
Which comes through surrender and docility.
The Holy Spirit is necessary in our times. He enlightens our minds so we do not become weighed down by what happens around us.
Do you have a relationship with The Holy Spirit?
I believe this has never been more important than now.
I wrote in this post last year: Breath in the Valley – Breath of God (wordpress.com) how we have been in the valley of dry bones in Our Church for a long time and are in need of a renewal, an awakening of The life of the Holy Spirit within us.
We need a new Pentecost.
I believe this will come through the trials and tribulation being part of a birth, which I will be writing about in greater detail in my next post.
For a good part of my adult life I was not open to The Holy Spirit. Through a trial of sickness, I became open to hearing His voice. And that was all He needed to begin filling me.
The Lord raises us up through our trials. He desires to heal, free and deliver us of our afflictions. To restore our identity as sons and daughters, enriching us in our vocations and building us for ministry.
If you desire to be more open to the Holy Spirit this Pentecost, or awaken your gifts given at Baptism, here is a prayer for a baptism in The Holy Spirit:
Dear Lord Jesus, I renounce Satan and all my sinful ways that keep me separated from you. I thank you for dying on the cross in order to save me from my sins and with your resurrection you bring me to new life in you. I wish to surrender myself to you and follow you as the Lord of my heart. I ask you to baptize me in the Holy Spirit and in power, that I might follow you more closely and love you more deeply all the days of my life. Let the gifts of the Holy Spirit come alive in me. In your precious name I pray. Amen!
Another way I believe The Holy Spirit comes to us strongly is through a relationship with His spouse, The Blessed Mother. Especially when we are consecrated to her.
I believe it was my devotion to Mary which brought me to a place of submission and openness.
She brings us the fire of the Holy Spirit.
About a year ago I saw this image in my mind while at Mass:
A magnifying glass catching a leaf on fire.
Remember this fun from childhood?
This is like The Blessed Mother.
She magnifies the light of her son.
“My soul magnifies The Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Luke 1:46
When we are consecrated to her, she holds us in her Immaculate heart.
Where we dwell in its flame: the love of her son.
The fire of the Holy Spirit within her also purifies us, sometimes through trial, hence the swords in her heart.
As we bask in the light from her magnification, a fir is lit within us.
And our hearts become ablaze like hers.
This Pentecost may you be filled with an unquenchable fire, and may our Church experience the joy of a new Pentecost.
Come Holy Spirit with your fire and set your faithful ablaze, equipping us to do your work. Alleluia!
Breath of God 