Catholic Faith Space
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If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you can probably recall my last post in which I shared about the good weekend I had. (If you’re a new reader, welcome!) This weekend was even better. It was my turn to be on a retreat. And this retreat was the Women’s CEW (Christian Experience Weekend). To try to even begin to describe it seems impossible. In my attempts to sum it up, I will say that God is so good and so powerful. Of course we know that God is good and powerful. We hear this all the time. But this weekend, this wasn’t just something I knew in my mind. It was something I experienced on a very real and deep level.
On the weekend, someone made a statement that sums up the experience quite well: “The Holy Spirit is working overtime this weekend.” The theme of the retreat was “Hearts on Fire” and there could not have been a more perfect theme. The Holy Spirit showed up and set hearts on fire. There were countless moments throughout the retreat in which the Holy Spirit made His presence known. In fact, it wasn’t merely a few moments, but rather, the whole experience that was filled with His presence. For me, one part that stands out is being prayed over and given a blessing before giving my talk, being prayed for during the talk, and then once again being prayed for after the talk as well. It was an experience unlike anything else and there was no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit is real and was truly with us. Having people lay their hands over me and pray took away every feeling of unease and it was as if I was lifted up and put right into the hands of God. The whole weekend was so good and to try to convey the experience through words doesn’t seem to do it justice. One retreat candidate from my table shared that, on Friday, she was not excited to come and did not really want to be there. By Sunday, she didn’t want to leave. I think this describes the Holy Spirit well. Having an encounter like this is an experience you don’t want to leave. You want to live in this sort of space forever. It was filled with love, joy, peace, and goodness, all fruits of the Holy Spirit. As I soak in all the graces from the weekend, the one thought taking over my mind is that I wish every single person, Catholic or not, could have this experience and know the power and realness of the Holy Spirit. I think a lot of people, myself included, have often disregarded the Holy Spirit due to not being familiar with Him or being confused or unsure by Him. I believe that if every Catholic could experience and be hit with the power and working of the Holy Spirit, the world would change. It would be set on fire with hearts that are burning intensely with the love of God. I think it is safe to say that anyone who has had a profound experience with the Holy Spirit wants others to have the same thing. We all have friends, family members, co-workers, and other people in our lives who don’t have a fire burning in their hearts. Maybe the flame went out, maybe it is there but very dim, or maybe it was never there to begin with. We all want the people in our lives to have their hearts blazing. While we cannot make anyone experience the Holy Spirit, there are ways we can help. We can invite people to retreats and events. We can share books and other resources to help them learn more about how the Holy Spirit works. Most importantly, we can share our witness of how the Holy Spirit has worked in our lives and how we have encountered Him. Doing these things can help people recognize the small, ordinary moments that the Holy Spirit is present throughout their days because while the Holy Spirit can work in profound and powerful ways, He is also in the regular, everyday moments of our lives. And sometimes, it takes huge and profound encounters with Him to recognize this. As I continue to reflect on the CEW retreat I was on this weekend, some lyrics from the song “Shine Jesus Shine” come to mind. “As we gaze on your kingly brightness, so our faces display your likeness. Ever changing from glory to glory, mirrored here may our lives tell your story…. Blaze, Spirit, Blaze. Set our hearts on fire.” It is easy to see when people’s hearts are on fire and when they are filled with the Holy Spirit because their lives are a reflection of Him. My prayer is that everyone would encounter the Holy Spirit in this way and know of His power, recognizing the work that He is doing in their lives constantly. I pray that each and every one of us would be filled with the Holy Spirit and have our hearts set on fire even more than they already are, so much so that it would overflow into the lives of those around us, touching their lives and setting the world on fire.
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AuthorStriving to share hope, joy, God's love, and all of the good stuff, one blog post at a time. Categories |