I believe one of the most exciting things about being Catholic is that you never know where the Holy Spirit will guide you. From my own experience, I was surprised at what the Lord had planned for me this year. Here are a couple of things I did so far this year as I have been guided by the Holy Spirit.
The first thing was spending time doing some volunteering. I knew it was something I always wanted to do, but I did not know where to start. So, after looking into it, I decided volunteering at my local food bank would be best. It was tiring, honestly, but I was happy to be able to organize much of the canned drinks and applesauce for the poor. It especially makes me feel at peace thinking of these Bible verses.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ {Matthew 25:35-40 The New American Bible – IntraText (vatican.va)}
Volunteering is something I still want to do more of, and I encourage others to try it if they never have before. Placing our focus on others always gets the focus off ourselves and they have needs that have to be met as well. To put it simply, in every form, charity does wonders for the soul.
Another prompting of the Holy Spirit was to go to a Bible Study. Again, it was something I always wanted to do, but I was always shy about it in the past. However, after much growth in my Faith and courage from the Holy Spirit, it was something I had to at least try out. So just this month, I did, and it was interesting. I was glad to be welcomed by many Catholics who knew the Scriptures very well. The priest was also very welcoming and helped open the Scriptures a bit more for me on that Sunday’s readings.
One beautiful message that stood out to me the most I took away from the priest was that he said we may never feel ready to follow God’s will, but that should not stop us. Meaning, the time is now to follow Christ and boldly proclaim our Faith by living the Gospel. All we must do is have courage, trust in God, and take that leap of faith no matter how scary it may seem. God personally goes ahead of us as it is stated in Sacred Scripture.
It is the LORD who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed { Deuteronomy 31:8 The New American Bible – IntraText (vatican.va)}
Even though these were bigger promptings for me from the Holy Spirit, I know He guides us in little ways too. We just have to be open to Him and surrender our will to Him. This reminds me of the Saint Mother Teresa quote where she says, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”
Another nugget of encouragement I found from Saint Mother Teresa was in her poem about life.
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
Even though I can be introverted sometimes, the Holy Spirit works beyond this. That is what is interesting because God has the power to work through us. He can and will reach out to other people that maybe our timidness would keep us from.
So, as the Lord and all the saints encourage you to go and make a difference, so do I. Because I can honestly say, nothing has brought me closer to God and then being led by the Holy Spirit to His Will in all things and through all things.
6 thoughts on “Holy Spirit Guide Us”
A great concept I was not aware of and I read it in the Seton reflections from the Seton Shrine is the idea or term of “Veronica veils”, it was in the reflection for the recent feast of St. Veronica, July 12th. Has anyone ever heard that used? The author characterized it as acts we may do. It might not even be that great of an act such as filling the dishwasher. I know I see it written, do a little act with great love.
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A few people are even getting into helping the homeless, okay, soup kitchens God bless them, they have been around a long time but some folks, like “Christ in the City” (videos on formed and website) really are hitting the streets. I think an article about these folks would have merit (and let me say here, I’m not qualified to write such though, one of these organizations has advertised here). I helped out one similar type of outfit. Feeding folks, preparing meals outside of an encampment. It exists I’m sure but in our outings, we weren’t seeing drug addiction, alcoholism or other ills and all were well behaved so far. I mean, obviously, folks understandably, would have some apprehension about doing something like this. But a Priest has lent his presence to the mission, so it became a sort of, why not? Not sure, it’s for me, we can all dabble in a few different things. Have a good heart. In fact, the opportunities out there for what we can do are probably nearly endless.
It is interesting, the illustration above seems to allude to the
7 gifts of the Holy Spirit
or
7 spiritual works of mercy
or
7 corporal works of mercy. Matthew 25:35 etc.
This is a very good article, thank you. And how you placed that picture above without mentioning this other was cleverly done. A lot to think about.
Another act I think so many of us can do at the least is the Spiritual Work of Mercy to pray for those in Purgatory. What if one really set their heart to it and got a lot of folks out? And even made sacrifices for such as we are called to do.
A lot to think about.
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