Tag Archives: evangelisation

Devotion to the Holy Spirit

Stained glass image of Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, whom St Josemaria called “The Great Unknown”, dwells in our soul as its “sweet guest”. Yet we seldom think of him, and could hardly call him our friend. In this meditation we strive to grow in devotion to the Holy Spirit, considering three of his principal roles in our life.

The Holy Spirit:

  • Is the Sanctifier,  helping us to grow in love for God, helping us to pray better, prompting us to say aspirations, reminding us that we are children of God…
  • Leads us into the truth, in our professional life or study, in understanding the truths of the faith…
  • Assists us in our work of evangelisation, as he did when he came down on the apostles on the feast of Pentecost.

Jesus and the Samaritan woman

Jesus and the Samaritan woman

Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, a depiction

The encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well teaches us many lessons. In this meditation we use the passage related by St John to consider how:

  • Jesus in his Providence arranged for the meeting to take place so that he could reveal himself to the Samaritan woman
  • Jesus begins his conversation not by preaching but by asking for a drink of water
  • Like the woman, we too have received “the gift of God”, the gift of grace, of faith, of formation, and we should put it to good use
  • The woman speaks to others of Jesus and brings them to him
  • We too should love all souls, of all backgrounds and religions, and help them come to know and love  Jesus

The multiplication of the loaves

When Christ multiplied the loaves and fish to feed a vast throng, he asked the apostles to bring the loaves and fish to him and to distribute them to the people. Today too, he wants to feed the people of our generation, who are hungry for his word, and he needs us to help him. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture and of St Josemaria Escriva to consider how:

  • Like the apostles, we need to be docile in carrying out what Our Lord is asking of us
  • Our Lady, the Handmaid of the Lord, was docile to God and brought the Word of God into the world.
  • We will be more useful in this work if we are very united to Christ through our spiritual life and we are humble
  • We should ask God throughout the day what he is expecting from us
  • If we are docile, God will multiply our efforts, as he did with the apostles

Meditation on friendship with Christ

Jesus called the apostles his friends. He can say the same to each of us. It is a wonderful gift that the very eternal Son of God wants to be our friend. In this meditation we consider what this means and how we can grow in friendship with Christ. We pray about:

  • Christ’s invitation to us to be his friend
  • How we can love Jesus Christ
  • St Josemaria Escriva on friendship with Christ
  • Pope Francis on encountering Christ
  • Conversing with Christ in prayer
  • Getting to know Christ through Scripture
  • Finding Christ in the Eucharist
  • Talking with Christ in work and travel
  • Bringing Christ to others

Meditation on formation for evangelisation

Recent Popes have been calling on the Church to carry out the new evangelisation – the passing on of the love and truth of Jesus Christ to the world. But in order to share our faith with others we must first know it and put it into practice. In this meditation we consider how we can come to know our faith better and live it out, so that we can communicate it more effectively to others. Among the points we consider are:

  • Christ spent time forming the apostles
  • We too need formation to carry out our mission of spreading the Gospel
  • Much depends on this formation: our own sanctification and happiness, and our ability to help others
  • This formation involves the spiritual, doctrinal, human and apostolic aspects
  • We can acquire this formation in a variety of ways, e.g., reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other books, attending talks, frequenting the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance, prayer, including the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and more…