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INTRODUCTION

This week, we are all invited to becloser to the Holy Spirit, the thirdperson in the Holy Trinity. Whatdoes it mean to have a closerrelationship with the Holy Spirit? Itmeans to know Him more becausehow can we be in closer

relationship with the Holy Spirit ifwe dont have a full knowledge ofHim. Most of the time in ourChristian life the Holy Spiritremains an abstract and amysterious person in the HolyTrinity. Yes, we pray to Jesus andwe pray to the Father, but whatabout to the Holy Spirit? This weekis our great moment to becomecloser to the Spirit of God. Bylistening to Him and allowing Himto reveal more of Himself to us, we

can feel His presence within us inour daily life. In this way the HolySpirit will be more visible in ourpersonal lives and in our VerbumDei Missionary family.

As a missionary family, we need tobe open to the Holy Spirit, toreceive Him every moment of ourVerbum Dei missionary life. For itis the Holy Spirit whom Pope JohnPaul II reminded us as theprincipal agent of the mission.

Thus the Holy Spirit isindispensable in our Verbum DeiMissionary family. The Holy Spiritis the only true Helper, the DivineConsoler and Advocate. Do notbanish me from your presence, donot take your Holy Spirit awayfrom me (Psalm 51:11). This isthe humble prayer of King David.He knew very well the importanceof the Holy Spirit in his life and inleading his people according to the

will of God.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is thegiver of life. He is life himself.The angel of the Lord appearedto him in a dream and said,Joseph descendants of David donot be afraid to take Mary to beyour wife for it is by the Holy Spiritthat she has conceived. She willhave a son and you will name him

Jesus (Matthew 1:20). The life ofJesus comes from the Holy Spirit asthe Son of God. So it is also withour very own lives. It also comesfrom the Spirit of God as we arealso Gods children. In fact, theHoly Spirit is regarded as thebreath of God. It is the same Spiritwho gives life to us just as howGod breathed life to the lifelesshuman clay in the palm of Hishand.

MONDAYThe Holy Spirit is my Guide

1 Jesus returned from the Jordanfull of the Holy Spirit and was ledby the Spirit into the desert (Luke4:1)

52 Jesus grew both in body and inwisdom, gaining favour with Godand people.

(Luke 2:52)

5

I am telling you the truth,replied Jesus. No one can enterthe Kingdom of God without beingborn of water and the Spirit. 6 Aperson is born physically of humanparents, but is born spiritually ofthe Spirit. 7 Do not be surprisedbecause I tell you that you must allbe born again. 8 The wind blowswherever it wishes; you hear thesound it makes, but you do notknow where it comes from orwhere it is going. It is like that with

everyone who is born of theSpirit. (John 3:5-8)

The Holy Spirit is our guide as wejourney in this life. He is the Spiritof God who watched over us whenGod the Father formed us in thewomb of our mother. The HolySpirit is the giver of life. He is thevery breath of God. The Holy Spiritis what we receive in our baptism

and makes us children of God as itwas also shown in Jesus when hewas baptized in Jordan River. TheHoly Spirit is within us constantlyguiding us to make us understandwho God the Father and who Godthe son is in our life.

What does it mean to believe inthe Holy Spirit? Did I see Hispresence in my daily life? How isHe guiding me every day?

TUESDAYThe Holy Spirit is my Helper to

find the TRUTH

16 I will ask the Father, and he willgive you another Helper, who willstay with you for ever. 17 He is theSpirit who reveals the truth aboutGod. The world cannot receivehim, because it cannot see him orknow him. But you know him,because he remains with you andis in you.

(John 14:16-17)26 The Helper will come theSpirit, who reveals the truth aboutGod and who comes from theFather. I will send him to you fromthe Father, and he will speak aboutme. (John 15:26)

26 The Helper, the Holy Spirit,whom the Father will send in myname, will teach you everythingand make you remember all that Ihave told you. (John 14:26)

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth.He is the one who enables us tounderstand the love and mercy ofGod which is greatly expressed tous through Jesus. Today, Jesus isinviting us to wait for the comingof the Holy Spirit in our prayers.That's why we need to pray everyday to allow the Helper to come.

Jesus is reminding us again thatthe Holy Spirit will not just come atrandom. We need to wait for Himin our daily prayers. Come HolySpirit; come to us in your ownspecial way. Our world today isvery much in need of this Helperthat He may put to order whatseems to be chaotic. We needHim to help us find the TRUTHmost especially in what is going onnow in our society today. The

Spirit of TRUTH will help us standup in the middle of many lieswhich lead our people astray.

What is the truth that the HolySpirit is leading us today? How do Ilive my life with the Spirit? Am Iaware that the Holy Spirit isleading me always in my followingof Christ and as a VD disciple?

WEDNESDAYThe Holy Spirit is the motor of

our Discipleship16 God's Spirit joins himself to ourspirits to declare that we are God'schildren.

(Romans 8:16)

1 When the day of Pentecost came,all the believers were gatheredtogether in one place. 2 Suddenlythere was a noise from the skywhich sounded like a strong windblowing, and it filled the wholehouse where they were sitting. 3

Then they saw what looked like

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tongues of fire which spread outand touched each person there. 4

They were all filled with the HolySpirit and began to talk in otherlanguages, as the Spirit enabledthem to speak. (Acts 2:1-4)

The Holy Spirit is the principalagent of evangelization; it is He

who impels each individual toproclaim the Gospel, and it is Hewho in the depths of consciencescauses the word of salvation to beaccepted and understood. (EN #75)

The Holy Spirit is always with usevery single moment of our dailyactivities since He dwells within us.As we come to the knowledge thatwe are Gods children, howwonderful it is to witness the love

of God in our life for other peopleand to proclaim that great identitythat we have that we are Godschildren. There are many peoplearound us who are not aware oftheir identity as Gods children andthey never recognize the love ofGod for them. This is what theHoly Spirit is pleading to us asVerbum Dei Missionary family thatis to become His helper andadvocate to all people everywhere,to proclaim and to witness the love

of God that we receive. Theawareness of Gods love is theonly true way to renew the heartof the people. How many heartsthat need to be renewed and to betransformed in our society today,thus, renewing the face of theearth?

Come Holy Spirit Come andrenew the face of the earth.

Do you see the urgency of themission?

Are you willing to work with theHoly Spirit in the mission? Are youready to speak with the boldnessof faith through a boldness ofservice?

THURSDAYThe Holy Spirit will teach us

How to Pray

26 In the same way the Spirit alsocomes to help us, weak as we are.For we do not know how we oughtto pray; the Spirit himself pleadswith God for us in groans thatwords cannot express. (Romans8:26)

How wonderful that today we cansee the Holy Spirit as our realAdvocate. He is speaking in ourbehalf to the Father. As Fr. JaimeBonet our founder says, A trulyapostolic life is an abundantlycontemplative life. A life that isconstantly praying, where thecenter is the word of God. What agrace from God in showing ustoday that the Holy Spirit standsfor us to speak in our behalf to theFather. Theres nothing to beafraid of in our unworthiness andweaknesses in front of God fortheres the Holy Spirit who pleadsfor us in groans that words cannot

express. The only important thingwe must do as disciples of Christ inthe Verbum Dei missionary familyis to fall on our knees in front ofGod daily, to be humble in front ofthe Father and to ask his mercyand love. As a VD disciple we needto grow in our dialogue with Goddaily. We need the Advocate tohelp us and to allow Him totransform us into the person Hewants us to be.

How is your prayer life this week?Hows your prayer life as a VD

disciple? Are you humble enoughto dialogue with God daily?

FRIDAYThe Holy Spirit is the Divine

Consoler

But this same Spirit who bringssin to light is also the Consoler whogives the human heart grace forrepentance and conversion. (CCC1433)

7Then the LORD said, I have seenhow cruelly my people are beingtreated in Egypt; I have heardthem cry out to be rescued fromtheir slave-drivers. I know all abouttheir sufferings, 8 and so I havecome down to rescue them fromthe Egyptians and to bring themout of Egypt to a spacious land,one which is rich and fertile and inwhich the Canaanites, the Hittites,the Amorites, the Perizzites, theHivites, and the Jebusites now live.(Exodus 3:7-8)

21Jesus said to them again, Peacebe with you. As the Father sentme, so I send you. 22 Then hebreathed on them andsaid, Receive the Holy Spirit. (Jn20:21-22)

The Holy Spirit is our true DivineConsoler who comforts us in timesof afflictions and sufferings. Weare able to go beyond our painssimply because our DivineConsoler never gives up on us. Wecan always count on Him toencourage us and give us the hopethat we need in each moment. Aswe acknowledge Him as our DivineConsoler, He is also sending to usall our brothers and sisters whoare afflicted, depressed and

pessimistic about life. We are sentto them in order to breathe on

them the words of consolation, thewords of hope and the words oflife.

Who are the afflicted and sufferingbrothers and sisters you havearound you? Are you willing tobreathe on them words ofconsolation, words of hope, and

words of life that comes fromabove?

SATURDAYThe Holy Spirit is the Creator

of Communion

1 I urge you, then I who am aprisoner because I serve the Lord:live a life that measures up to thestandard God set when he calledyou. 2 Be always humble, gentle,and patient. Show your love bybeing tolerant with one another. 3

Do your best to preserve the unitywhich the Spirit gives by means ofthe peace that binds youtogether. 4There is one body andone Spirit, just as there is onehope to which God has called you.5There is one Lord, one faith, onebaptism; 6 there is one God andFather of all, who is Lord of all,works through all, and is in all. 7

Each one of us has received aspecial gift in proportion to what

Christ has given. (Ephesians 4:1-7)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,the love of God, and the fellowshipof the Holy Spirit be with you all.(2 Corinthians 13:14)

What a great blessing to discoverthe communion of the Father,Jesus and the Holy Spirit within uswhich will empower us to beinitiator of that communion as well

in our family, school, offices andsociety as a whole. As baptized

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Christians, this is actually ourcalling to be initiator of communion in a world wheredivision is prevalent. Thiscommunion is possible as weimbibe in us the values of theGospel. In this way we safeguardthe gift of unity that the Spiritgives.

Are you ready to collaborate ininitiating communion in the placewhere you are?Are you aware the special gift ofcommunion given by the HolySpirit to you?

GUIDELINES FORPRAYER

The

HolySpirit

will teachyou

everything

(c.f. Jn 14:26)

Week 4: In the Holy Spirit

Sept. 23-29, 2013

Objective of the Week:To intensify our relationship

with the Holy Spirit and beopen in allowing Him to lead

our life and the whole of ourVD family.