INBOX INSPIRATIONS
July 26, 2023
Holy Spirit – 1
Dear Friends,
Today begins a series of Inbox Inspirations on the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? And maybe I should be very transparent about what I am doing here and say: Who is the Holy Spirit for me, personally?
Most basically, the Holy Spirit is God within me. The Spirit is God actually abiding within me. This means that we do not have to look beyond or outside of ourselves to find God. God is within me. And even more, God abides within me. This word – abide – means that God isn’t going anywhere and isn’t going to leave me. God is here to stay. In fact, it cannot be otherwise. If God were not within me, I would not be. To put it another way: if I were to cease to be, only then would God not be there – and I don’t think that happens or will happen even when I physically die. God just abides, resides in, and stays with and within me.
And then, I like to say that God the Holy Spirit is my center, the center of my being. Deep down, within me, God is at my center. Sometimes I need solitude, silence, and stillness to try to be in touch with this center. This is why I am, what makes me be, and it is who I really am. And that takes me to my next reflection or word of praise.
The Holy Spirit is my core, my deepest identity. Maybe this is just another word for saying what I just said above, but I think it gives a slightly different nuance. The idea is that God is at the core of my being. In fact, I think we can say that the Spirit is so core to me that the Spirit is my being. Again, without God, without the Spirit here, I would not be. God’s presence, the Spirit’s presence is essential. It creates and sustains me in being. The Spirit is my hidden, unseen, invisible core. I am of God. Isn’t this what Genesis means when it tells us that we made in God’s image and likeness?
So, for today, three words about the Holy Spirit: abide, center, and core. More to come next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
Holy Spirit – 2
Dear Friends,
Last week’s Inbox began this series by praising God the Holy Spirit as abiding within us, as the center of our being, and as the core of our identity. Today’s Inbox continues this prayerful reflection.
The Holy Spirit is my strength for everyday living:
v the energy that keeps me going in doing the day in and day out things that I have to do;
v the empowerment for doing things that I don’t want to do but am responsible for doing, like my job when it gets boring or challenging;
v the faithfulness that helps me to stick to the duties of my vocation when the grass looks greener on the other side, and this might include marriage or priesthood or immediate and extended family and friends;
v the motivation that helps me to say something to someone that I don’t want to say but feel called from within to express;
v the wisdom to know what to say and when and where and how to say it;
v the enlightenment of seeing what I am to do or what God is calling me to do in each chapter of my life;
v the inspiration to seek a spiritual director or a counselor to walk the journey of life with me;
v the steady presence that leads me to be truthful and authentic, first with myself, and then with others, and yes, with God too.
And then the Holy Spirit is my refuge in time of trouble:
v the One to turn to when I feel overwhelmed with too many commitments, especially when they are of my own doing;
v the One who can help me to know when to say Yes even though it will stretch me beyond my comfort zone;
v the One who can help me to know when to say No even though this will disappoint someone;
v the One who provides some space for peace when I feel so upset by divisions in my Church or in my country or even in my family;
v the One who is always there, always with me when I feel alone or outright lonely and even abandoned;
v the One who understands me when I feel misunderstood by others;
v the One who will be just and fair with me when I feel unjustly and unfairly treated by others;
v the One to whom I can turn in times of sickness;
v the One whom I will never lose as I face other losses in my life.
More on the Holy Spirit in next week’s Inbox Inspirations!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
Holy Spirit – 3
Dear Friends,
This edition of Inbox Inspirations continues the series on the Holy Spirit.
God, the Holy Spirit, is my wisdom:
v The One within me who helps me to discern what I am to do
v The One within who sometimes gently nudges me to do something that I am not even thinking of doing
v The One within who sometimes makes me restless until I am open to do something that I am resisting
v The One who moves me to use my gifts and become all that I am created to be
v The One who often expresses himself through my own deep desires, longings, and even my feelings, and who wants me to tune in to them and not discount them
v The One who enlightens me to see the inner meaning of things and of what’s really going on
v The One who awakens me to the connectedness of everyone and everything that is
v The One who leads or even pushes me to look beyond myself to the overall good of everyone.
And then the Holy Spirit is my consoler or comforter:
v The One who encourages me when I feel discouraged
v The One who energizes me when I feel tired and worn out
v The One who stays with me when I feel alone, lonely, even abandoned
v The One who strengthens me when I am suffering physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually
v The One who helps me to hope when I feel hopeless or am wondering if there is any hope to be found
v The One who helps me to love when I dislike or even feel hostile toward another
v The One who steers me away from self-rejection when I feel rejected
v The One who accepts me when I am judged by others.
More on the Holy Spirit in next week’s Inbox Inspiration!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
Holy Spirit – 4
Dear Friends,
This column concludes the series on the Holy Spirit. There are four traits that are inter-connected and describe who the Holy Spirit is for us: the presence, the love, the healing action, and the grace of God.
The most basic statement of all is that the Holy Spirit is the presence of God within us. Some spiritual writers, especially some contemplatives, refer to God within us simply as the Presence. It is as if we can intuit, almost feel or sense something or someone within us: a Presence. This is the Presence of the divine. So, we can rest in this Presence. The Presence is essential to our being. We are because the Presence is within.
Then, we must also say that the Holy Spirit is the love of God within us. This must be so because the Holy Spirit is God and God is love itself. The Spirit is God’s continuous giving of Himself to us and to each person. This is why we are drawn to love. There is something within that moves us to love and to want to be loved. We are unsettled when we do not love another or when we feel unloved by another. We feel incomplete in that situation because we are not being our full or true self – persons with the One who is love itself within us.
It follows that the Holy Spirit is the healing action of God within us. God makes us whole. We become all we are created to be through the presence and love of God. So, as the healing action of God, the Spirit nudges us to deal with the fragmented, injured, incomplete parts of ourselves. The Holy Spirit is a healing power when we feel confused about ourselves, isolated, put down, mistreated, misunderstood, or treated unjustly. The Spirit helps us to make us whole persons, to become the real me.
Finally, maybe to sum it all up, the Holy Spirit is the grace of God within us. God’s presence, love, and healing action are all gratuitous. They are all gift. This is what grace means. In fact, grace is not something that God gives. Rather, it is God, God’s gift of himself, given freely, not earned or merited by us. It is in and through this that we find our peace and fullness as persons and our taste here on earth of eternal life.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
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