The sunlight flickered through the windows as my four-year-old son wandered restlessly around the church foyer. I sat outside the glass of the adoration chapel, blocking out his little noises, trying to enter into prayer.
The book lay open in my lap as I poured over a new way of praying from Désiré-Joseph Cardinal Mercier. He explained that the secret to holiness and happiness was to take five minutes a day to pray while shutting out all exterior and interior distractions. Then focus prayerfully on entering into the inner sanctuary of our baptized soul where the Holy Spirit dwells. And pray for guidance.
“O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will” (Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Cardinal Mercier, source).
Because I am baptized, the Holy Spirit dwells within my soul. This makes me a temple of the Holy Spirit. This means that I don’t need to look outside myself to speak to God. He is already present within me.
In my distracted life, I forget to stop, spend those five minutes with Him, or even just recall Him to my mind in the moments when the needs of my children and my duties feel like an overwhelming storm.
Yet the strength and guidance I need to live out my vocation every day can be found in talking to Him within my soul.
He is there, waiting for us to see Him. He is there, ready to guide our every move. He is there, with the grace we need.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (see 1 Corinthians 3:16).
You are His holy dwelling; meet Him there.
This selection goes deeper into our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Susanna Spencer is the Theological Editor for Blessed is She who studied theology and philosophy in her earlier life. She happily cares for her three adorable little girls, toddler boy, and her dear husband in Saint Paul when not writing and editing. She loves beautiful liturgies, cooking delicious meals, baking amazing sweets, reading good books, raising her children, casually following baseball, and talking to her philosopher husband. She is a contributing author to our children's devotional prayer book called Rise Up and Theological Editor of the Catechism Studies, the Mystery Studies, and the Works of Mercy study. You can find out more about her here.
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