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September 2008 |
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May the Lord give you His peace! |
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 Because He is pure spirit and unlike the Father - who because of earthly fathers we have some idea about - and the Son who became flesh and dwelt among us, we have a tough time thinking about the Holy Spirit. He is however essential to living a Christian life, indeed without the spirit we cannot live because he is "the Lord and Giver of life" as we call him in our liturgy. The Holy Spirit is God, the Gift of God's Self to us. He desires to abide with us and to be a part of every single aspect of our life. |
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 When the late servant of God Archbishop
Fulton J. Sheen ordained our Fr. Andrew Apostoli to the priesthood he made an interesting comment. He remarked that it was a shame to receive the Holy Spirit without having had any classes on the Holy Spirit. Fr. Andrew was inspired by this comment to write some books on this important topic [order them here]. |
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Wisdom quote: "Yes, the Spirit of the Lord is the principal agent in our spiritual life. He creates our 'new heart,' inspires it and guides it with the 'new law' of love, of pastoral charity. For the development of the spiritual life it is essential to be aware that the priest will never lack the grace of the Holy Spirit as a totally gratuitous gift and as a task which he is called to undertake. Awareness of this gift is the foundation and support of the priest's unflagging trust amid the difficulties, temptations and weaknesses which he will meet along his spiritual path." |
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May the Lord bless you,
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 Fr. Gabriel Mary Bakkar, CFR Saint Joseph Friary 523 W. 142nd Street New York, NY 10031 (212)281-4355 Archive eLetters |
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In this month's reflection I would like to focus on a topic that usually is not very much spoken about, but lately has been in the lime-light: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Father's theme for World Youth Day was "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses", quoting from Acts 1:8. This Person of the Trinity seems very often like "the forgotten God." I know that for a long time in my own life, it was like the Holy Spirit didn't even exist. The only time I mentioned His name was in the sign of the cross and at Mass a few times.