Week Three // O Holy Spirit, Beloved of My Soul
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. Amen.
Week Three Intention
We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our local communities and dioceses.
Week Three // Day Three
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
There’s a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl during which the ship and its crew are being tossed by the waves of a great storm. One of the characters questions the sanity of Captain Jack, as he is steering the ship by a compass which doesn’t point north.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a compass that doesn't work?" he yells above the squall.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?" the first mate knowingly returns.
When we ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can expect a couple of things.
First, we are going to encounter disturbances and downpours. It’s not a question of “if.” The island which the pirates were trying to reach possessed an immense treasure which also made its owners immortal. The powerful storm was an attempt to keep the crew from reaching that destination. Similarly, the Holy Spirit guides us towards the treasure of eternal life. Right as rain (pun-intended) we can presuppose that the enemy will send disorder, upheaval, and barricades to try and veer us off course. Satan really doesn’t care whether we are shipwrecked entirely or simply lose our bearings. His only concern is that we never obtain the treasure. Storms are often a sign that we’re headed in the right direction within our spiritual lives.
Second, the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a lot like Jack’s compass. It doesn’t “point north.” The Holy Spirit does not direct us the same way the world directs us. Because He points us in a different direction and leads us by different means, people will often question our sanity and our intelligence, just as they did with Captain Jack. Thus, we can all take a page from the book of Jack Sparrow and simply grin when this occurs, because we know something the world doesn’t. And their opinions won’t stop us from receiving our eternal reward unless we let their own doubts starve our faith.
Whether we face storms or the judgment of others, we simply need to keep our focus on “the compass that doesn’t point north” (aka: the Holy Spirit).
Try to approach the spiritual warfare in your day-to-day life as confirmation that you are headed in the right direction.
Prayer + Discussion for Prayer Partners
Do other people’s remarks cause you to question the guidance or assurance you received in prayer?
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet
Grace Bellon is a wife, mom, and high school theology teacher who has spent years walking with young people as they wrestle with faith, identity, and the ache for something more. She writes from the heart of a classroom, the hustle of family life, and the quiet corners where the Lord speaks most tenderly. She believes in miracles, mercy, and the delicate art of balancing home-cooked meals with takeout nights. Her sweetest joys are found in the company of one man who keeps her coffee cup full, her children who keep her laundry baskets fuller, and the Eucharist which fills her heart and soul.
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