Sunday
Even though we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” I hope you know that the gift of the Spirit is already given. The Holy Spirit has already come. We all are temples of the Holy Spirit—equally, objectively, and forever!
—Richard Rohr
Monday
This is the beginning of the miracle of Pentecost, the revolution of the intimate. This is the beginning of a community broken open by the sheer act of God.
—Willie James Jennings
Tuesday
Wholehearted spirituality in the freedom of the Spirit gives us courage, courage to bear witness to God’s grace against all odds, courage to speak despite efforts to silence us, courage to act authentically and in ways that encourage and empower the weak and the vulnerable.
—Rebecca Button Pritchard
Wednesday
There is an Inner Reminder, an Inner Rememberer, who holds together all the disparate and fragmented parts of our lives, fills in all the gaps, owns all the mistakes, forgives all the failures, and loves us into an ever-deeper life. This is the job description of the Holy Spirit.
—Richard Rohr
Thursday
They were all kneeling around the high altar of St. Anthony’s Church (where I had been a novice), still singing in tongues. They never left the church the whole night. That was the birth of the New Jerusalem Community.
—Richard Rohr
Friday
When we open up space for the Spirit and let the Spirit fill that space within us, we begin to change, and we become agents of change.
—Brian McLaren
Week Twenty-One Practice
Born of the Spirit
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
—John 3:8
Spiritual teacher Christine Valters Paintner offers this prayer to the Spirit of creation and new life:
Spirit of Creation,
in the beginning you blew over the waters,
coaxing the earth up from the depths of the sea,
and inviting all creatures to rise up on their own wings.
Spirit of Renewing Life,
you breathed into me in my very first moment,
invigorate me with your gift of energy and newness.
Continue to breathe expansively in me,
inviting me to a vision for what is possible in my life.
Spirit of Restlessness,
stir me from my longing for comfort that so often stifles me,
help me to release from the places that keep me stuck,
and guide me in the direction you would have me go.
Spirit of the Great Winds,
help me to hear your voice in the midst of the whirlwind of my life.
Grant me the trust to hold on while I am being buffeted by life’s storms.
Blessings of wind be upon me.
May my sails billow wide,
May I breathe deeply the gift of inspiration,
May I be carried to the place of my resurrection,
May I be fully free.
Reference:
Excerpted from Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements, 42–43, copyright © 2010 by Christine Valters Paintner. Used with permission of the publisher, Sorin Books®, an imprint of Ave Maria Press®, Inc., P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556. www.avemariapress.com.
Image credit and inspiration: Arman Khadangan, untitled (detail), 2019, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The Holy Spirit kindles our inner fires: enlivening, inspiring, and sustaining all throughout time.
