The Holy Spirit Does These Six Surprising Things
We tend to have many preconceived notions of how the Holy Spirit operates.
On one end of the spectrum, the Pentecostal movement associates the Spirit with enthusiasm and ecstasy, hence terms like ‘baptism in the Spirit’ and ‘slain in the Spirit.’ At the other end of the spectrum, many Christians think of the Spirit as the Father and Son’s silent partner—or worse, they tend to forget about Him altogether.
The Holy Spirit is more than all this. Here is what Scripture and Church tradition reveal about what the Spirit does that might help us to appreciate Him in a new light:
- He searches us.
- He groans.
In Romans 8:26, Paul writes, “For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” How can this be? We associate groaning, as Paul himself does, with created things that have bodies. Of course, Christ Himself in the fullness of humanity surely groaned as well.
- He leads us to our crosses.
- He looks for Mary.
In True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort explains that the Holy Spirit looks for Mary in the soul. Where He sees Mary, He produces greater fruit:
It was with her, in her and of her that he produced his masterpiece, God-made-man, and that he produces every day until the end of the world the members of the body of this adorable Head.
- He consecrates us.
- He becomes our guest.
There is much more about the Spirit that we have to learn. As we seek to get to know Him better let us welcome Him as our sweet guest and listen to His soft sighs as He teaches us more about ourselves and the wisdom of God.
