Bert Ghezzi - Prayers to the Holy Spirit: Power and Light for Your Life

Power and Light
for Your Life

Power and Light
for Your Life

BERT GHEZZI

Copyright 2014 by Bert Ghezzi

Published by The Word Among Us Press

7115 Guilford Road

Frederick Maryland 21704

www.wau.org

All rights reserved

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN: 978-1-59325-252-6

eISBN: 978-1-59325-456-8

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture texts marked NJB are from the New Jerusalem Bible, 1985 by Darton, Longman, & Todd, Ltd., and Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

Scripture texts marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

The English translation of Non-Biblical Readings of the Church Fathers is taken from The Liturgy of the Hours, 1973, 1974, 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Koechel Peterson & Associates

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other, except for brief quotations in printed reviewswithout the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014930871

Voices of the Saints

The Saints Devotional Bible

The Power of Daily Prayer

Discover Christ (with Dave Nodar)

Breakfast with Benedict (compiler/editor)

Everyday Encounters with God (with Benedict Groeschel, CFR)

Saints at Heart

Living the Sacraments

The Sign of the Cross

Mystics and Miracles

Getting Free

The Spirit of God has made a home in you.

Romans 8:9, NJB

Welcome to Prayers to the Holy Spirit: Power and Light for Your Life, a little book that offers you a big opportunity to give yourself more fully to the Lord. Here you will find reflections and prayers designed to open you to renewing your life in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came to dwell in you when you became a Christian and received the sacraments of initiationBaptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. From that time he has worked within you, enlightening you, forming you as a Christian, empowering you with gifts, and more. I like to describe him as the Holy Spirit the Worker, who comes to us with his toolbox full of blessings, graces, and gifts. Here are some of his workings, which this book highlights:

The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life. He breathed life into the first creation and he animates the new creation, which is the body of Christ, the Church.

The Holy Spirit has made his home in us, establishing each of us as his temple and making us holy.

The Holy Spirit enlightens our minds, unpacking for us the teachings of Jesus and the Church.

The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, which means that he defends us against whatever threatens us, counsels us when were troubled or confused, and intercedes for us, especially when we dont know how to pray.

The Holy Spirit transforms us, making us more like Christ. He does this by giving us gifts that illumine our mindswisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counseland gifts that make our hearts glow with lovepiety, fortitude, and reverence.

The Holy Spirit renews us in the Lords image by planting in us the seeds of the fruit of the Spirit, which prompt us to conduct ourselves as Jesus would.

The Holy Spirit empowers each of us with charismatic gifts that equip us to fulfill our mission to bring others to Christ and to the Church.

Each of the seventy-five chapters of Prayers to the Holy Spirit begins with a brief Scripture text and a reflection on one or more of these workings of the Spirit. You will find meditations on Scripture, mini-teachings from Church Fathers and theologians, examples from the lives of saints and contemporary Catholics, and stories from my own experience.

An application follows each reflection, which shows you how to respond to the Holy Spirit. You will see what you must do to relate the message of the reflection to your life.

Then you will find a May you blessing, which commends you to the Lord and asks for graces to help you appropriate the Spirits gifts or participate in his work.

Finally, each chapter ends with a prayer starter, which you can use to launch meditation, petition, thanksgiving, or adoration.

I invite you to approach your reading of Prayers to the Holy Spirit with faithand not just with the faith that believes the truth of doctrines, nor merely the daily faith that expresses your trust in God. Rather, you should approach the Lord with expectant faitha faith that counts on God to act. According to what Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke, when we ask the Lord for an outpouring of the Spirit, we can expect to receive him:

So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened. What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:9-13, NJB)

So may you approach the Lord expecting him to do what he promises. May you meet the Holy Spirit afresh in these pages. And with each chapter, may you be flooded with love for the Lord and feel the power and light of his Spirit.