Learning to Live By the Spirit | Part 2
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The 6th principle to live a life inspired by the Holy Spirit is daily meditation and a resolution.
Meditation is like having Coffee with a Friend. Set a specific time and place conducive to a leisurely intimate conversation. Talk and share, listen and understand and just enjoy spending time together.
There are three simple steps to meditation which can be done in the Rosary or without it.
Read some meditation from Scripture, Tradition or the Magisterium and as soon as something strikes you – stop reading.
Reflect or think about what struck you
· Try to Understand the passage; observe what is going on or being said and ask questions.
· Apply it to your life
· Draw conclusions that fit your life
· Talk over all of this with Jesus in your mind and heart
Resolution: Choose something practical and concrete to remember or to do today based on your meditation
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The 7th principle for living and inspired life is to practice being peaceful and calm.
The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace. He speaks and acts in calm; therefore, it’s hard to hear God in noise and agitation. Picture a lake as calm as glass. When the lake is calm it can reflect the beauty of the nature around it. Have you ever seen a mountain lake reflect perfectly the Image of a Mountain peak? Just as a calm lake can reflect the beauty of the mountain, a calm soul may reflect the will of God.
On the other hand, it is impossible for an agitated and storm driven lake to reflect the beauty of the mountain. Likewise, it is unlikely if not impossible for a soul that is all stirred up to reflect the will of God in its life.
If we want to recognize and follow the inspirations of the Spirit, then we strive with the help of God’s grace to maintain a peaceful heart in all circumstances. I suggest you read a book entitled Searching for and Maintaining Inner Peace by Jacque Philippe.
If we don’t practice peace in all the circumstances that threaten to make us lose it (and there are many!) it will be difficult for us to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice when he wants to speak with us. The unrest we allow in our hearts will almost certainly prevent it.
When we experience difficult moments, the effort that we make to remain at peace will give us the best chance of responding to the situation as the Holy Spirit wants rather than REACTING to the situation as our fallen human nature dictates. We should try to put into practice the advice from St. John of the Cross: “Take care to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it…Even when everything down here collapses and all events go against us, it would be useless to worry ourselves because this worry takes more from us than it gives [to us].”
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The 8th principle for living an inspired life is to practice detachment or Holy Indifference.
Of Holy Indifference St Ignatius of Loyola writes: It is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in everything that is granted to the liberty of our free will and is not prohibited (meaning all sin), in such ways that we do not prefer health to sickness, wealth to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life, and likewise in everything else, but desire and choose that which leads us to holiness and the glory of God.
Do what you can to ensure health, success, safety and security, goodness, truth and justice in the world.
But accept all that is beyond your control to change with Holy Indifference, a neutrality, a detachment, because God knows best how to make us like Him and if He allows something in our life or the world, then He is using it to make us like Him.
Many times our spiritual progress is blocked more by attachment to some of our ideas, concepts, or ways of behaving: our will, our plan, our way!
Attachment to our “wisdom,” especially when we are objectively right, is perhaps the worst obstacle to docility towards the Holy Spirit. Seeing that what we want is best, we justify ourselves with a stubbornness, or bad manners and pride, that blinds us, without considering that the way in which we believe that our idea will come true does not always correspond to the plans of God.
We must Not only want what is good – but we must want it in a way that is good, that is, detached, peaceful, and calm.
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The 9th principle to living an inspired life is to discern
Inspirations that come from God are good. Not all inspirations come from God. Therefore, we should discern before we act.
We don’t just do whatever comes into our heart or head. We take time to discern using our reason to see if this inspiration comes from God and leads us to God or does not come from God and moves us away from Him.
We can begin discerning inspirations with this question: does it help me grow in love of God, a proper love of self and neighbor. If the answer is yes, then act on the inspiration.
At the end of the day, go back and take and look at your decisions flowing from inspirations, to learn how to make more good decisions and less bad decisions.
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The 10th principle is Spiritual Friendship
Teresa of Avila writes about the importance of having friends with whom you can have spiritual conversations in The Book of Her Life, (Chapter 7:20). A great evil it is for a soul to be alone in the midst of so many dangers. It seems to me that if I should have had someone to talk all this over with it would have helped me…For this reason I would counsel those who practice prayer to seek…friendship and association with other persons having the same interest. This is something most important even though the association may be only to help one another with prayers. The more of these prayers there are, the greater the gain…I believe that those who discuss the joys and trials they undergo will benefit themselves and those who hear them, and they will come away instructed; and even without understanding how, they will have instructed their friends.