The First Luminous Mystery // The Baptism in the Jordan
Fruit of the Mystery // Openness to the Holy Spirit
Reflect
When our son was about three months old, our parish priest asked if he could play the part of Baby Jesus for the Christmas midnight Mass. I said no on the spot without any hesitation! I was a brand new mom and envisioned our son wailing and crying the whole time. I just couldn’t bear the thought of ruining someone else’s Mass experience during midnight Mass!
After praying about it further with my husband and asking the Holy Spirit to guide our decision, we said yes. I felt the weight of my lack of trust and realized this wasn’t about me or even about our son possibly spoiling someone’s midnight Mass experience; it was about being open to the invitation that was being presented to us.
I had an invitation for my son to participate in the Mass by laying in the manger scene, spending time with Mary and Joseph alongside all of the manger animals and I almost passed it up. Seeing our son in the manger made me swell up with pride and made me think about all of the other times that the Holy Spirit may have been responding to my prayers of aligning my will to the Father’s, but I had simply refused because it didn’t look exactly the way I had envisioned it. I have learned to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even when I am tempted to shake them off because of my own selfish desires.
I ask the Holy Spirit daily to guide me and instruct me in following God’s will. I pray for docility because I possess anything but that! I always feel like I have to earn sitting down—like making sure the sink is empty, doing a load of laundry, making sure the kids have their lunches ready to go, etc. (okay, maybe I have some Martha-like tendencies). The Holy Spirit doesn’t show up in the visible form of a dove and announce His presence in my life. I have to work hard to ward off distraction and to be attuned to how the Spirit is working in my life.
For someone like me who feels like I have to work to earn my keep, it can be easy to miss how I may be lacking openness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Let Us Pray
Come, Holy Spirit, awaken our hearts to be open to Your guidance. Help us today to have a clear awareness of Your presence in our lives and help us come alive in responding to Your call for us. Amen.
For Discussion
At Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit. With your prayer partner, share a moment that you felt the Holy Spirit is working in your life.
How did you respond? How did that change your approach to prayer?
Praying the Rosary
Throughout the Prayer Pledge and beyond, we really encourage you to pray the Rosary! Since we will be looking at the fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary, it only makes sense to actually pray it!
Here is a guide on how to pray the Rosary.
I like this podcast and this podcast for praying the Rosary.
Hallow also has a marvelous Rosary meditation.
And if you want to go even deeper in to the Rosary, check out Mystery!
By Their Fruits: The 2021 Prayer Pledge // Day 11 #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet
Mytae Carrasco Wallace is Las Vegas born and raised and holds a Masters in Public Administration. She and her husband have the privilege of leading Pre-Cana retreats for their home parish. On the daily you can find her raising her three kiddos, choreographing dance moves to entertain her children, and doing her own version of carpool karaoke. She was a contributing author to All She Had. Find out more about her here. Mytae es creada y nacida en Las Vegas, NV. Tiene su Maestría en Administración Pública. Ella y su esposo tienen el privilegio de dirigir los retiros de Pre-Cana para su parroquia. Diariamente puedes encontrarla criando a sus tres hijos, coreografiando movimientos de baile para entretener a sus hijos y cantando su propia versión de karaoke en el carro. Fue autora contribuyente de All She Had. Conozca la mejor aquí..
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