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道, 57
Get to know the Holy Spirit, the Great Unknown, for it is he who has to sanctify you.
Don't forget that you are a temple of God. The Paraclete is in the center of your soul: listen to him, and be docile to his inspirations.
_________
"Throughout 1932 there was a noticeable growth in St. Josemaría's devotion to the Holy Spirit, as recorded in his Intimate Notes. That year Pentecost fell on 15 May, and two notes date from his preparation for this feast:
" 'We are within the novena to the Holy Spirit. My God! when will you rid me of this heap of my wretchednesses?'
" 'While I was closing the tabernacle, I said (moved by this affection because we are within the novena to the Holy Spirit): "May the fire of your Spirit fill me." '
"By June he already had a copy of the recently-published Decenario al Espiritu Santo by Francisca Javiera del Valle, which he annotated as he read. In September he wrote the text of point 599 (see chapter 27), which contemplates 'the breath of the Holy Spirit' lifting the 'dust, fallen and dirty.' At the beginning of October of that year he did a retreat in Segovia, close to the tomb of St. John of the Cross, and from then on the theme of the Holy Spirit came out in his considerations with renewed force, as is apparent from the commentary on point 58 and point 755. On his return to Madrid, a few days before writing point 57, he went to see his spiritual director, putting into practice what he would later recommend in this chapter. The conversation must have centered around the Holy Spirit's action in the soul, a theme which St. Josemaría was very conscious of, as we have seen. A simple but deep piece of advice from his spiritual director produced a burst of light in his soul. Returning home, he immediately wrote in his Notebook:
" 'Octave of All Saints - Tuesday - 8 November 1932: This morning, not yet an hour ago, my Fr. Sanchez revealed to me "another Mediterranean." He told me: "Make friends with the Holy Spirit. Don't speak: listen to him." And while I was praying on my way home from Leganitos, my prayer was both gentle and enlightening, and I saw how the life of childhood, by making me aware that I was a son of God, had brought me to love the Father; that, even before that, I had gone through Mary to reach Jesus, whom I adore as a friend, as a brother, as his lover, for that is what I am... Up until now, I knew the Holy Spirit was dwelling in my soul to sanctify it... but I hadn't grasped the truth of his presence. Fr. Sanchez's words were what I needed. I feel Love within me, and I want to get to know him, to become his friend, his confidant... I want to facilitate his work of polishing, uprooting and enkindling... I won't know how to: but He will give me the strength. He will do everything, if I want him to... and I do! Divine Guest, Master, Light, Guide, Love: may this poor donkey make you welcome and listen to your lessons, and be set aflame, and follow you and love you. Resolution: develop, uninterruptedly if possible, friendship and a loving, docile conversation with the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus!...'
"His visit to his confessor led him to re-read Francisca Javiera del Valle's book on the Holy Spirit intensely. He transcribed phrases from it into Notebook 6, and his copy of the book is filled with many annotations of extraordinary spiritual richness.
"The point of this long digression is that it was during his reading of this book and his exploration of this 'Mediterranean' that he wrote point 57. Its message is that we should not just be grateful for the action of the Holy Spirit in our soul, but should develop a personal relationship with the Paraclete, 'the Great Stranger,' so that he remains a stranger no longer. In 1934 St. Josemaría composed the following prayer, which seems to have resulted from the advice he had received ["Listen to him!"] and a supernatural experience ["I have heard his voice"]:
" 'Come, Holy Spirit! Enlighten my mind, so as to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; set my will aflame... I have heard your voice and I don't want to harden my heart and resist, saying, "Later ..., tomorrow." Nunc coepi - now I begin! Now! - lest there be no tomorrow for me.
" 'O Spirit of truth and wisdom, Spirit of understanding and counsel, Spirit of joy and peace! I want whatever you want. I want it because you want it, I want it however you want it, I want it whenever you want it ...'
"This was the first time St. Josemaría used the expression 'The Great Stranger' to describe the Holy Spirit. It was to become characteristic of his spiritual language. See the homily of the same name. It has its roots in Scripture and was teased out while meditating on the Decenarium.
" '...is in the centre of your soul': this expression, which in all the Notebooks of his Intimate Notes only appears here, reappears in The Forge on three occasions. It is interesting to contrast them with The Way. Who is in the center of the soul? In this point of The Way it is the Holy Spirit. But in The Forge it is 'God' (932), 'your Father-God' (538), 'Jesus ... is our God' (1016). The three divine Persons are in the center of the soul: 'If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him' (John 14:23). It is the theology of the circuminsessio - the mutual immanence of the three Persons - which is behind this friendly conversation which St. Josemaría proposes for his readers. In a get-together in 1959 he expressed himself thus:
" 'I am getting on, and we old people begin to treat as accidental those things which, when we were young, seemed to us to be important. I am going ahead retaining the essentials, I am getting to a 'synthesis.' And the synthesis is this: in human matters, omnia in bonum and in the supernatural, to speak with the Father, to speak with the Son, to speak with the Holy Spirit. The rest is of no importance.' "
_________
[excerpted from "The Way: Critical-historical edition," prepared by P. Rodriguez of the Josemaría Escrivá Historical Institute]
道, 57
Get to know the Holy Spirit, the Great Unknown, for it is he who has to sanctify you.
Don't forget that you are a temple of God. The Paraclete is in the center of your soul: listen to him, and be docile to his inspirations.
_________
"Throughout 1932 there was a noticeable growth in St. Josemaría's devotion to the Holy Spirit, as recorded in his Intimate Notes. That year Pentecost fell on 15 May, and two notes date from his preparation for this feast:
" 'We are within the novena to the Holy Spirit. My God! when will you rid me of this heap of my wretchednesses?'
" 'While I was closing the tabernacle, I said (moved by this affection because we are within the novena to the Holy Spirit): "May the fire of your Spirit fill me." '
"By June he already had a copy of the recently-published Decenario al Espiritu Santo by Francisca Javiera del Valle, which he annotated as he read. In September he wrote the text of point 599 (see chapter 27), which contemplates 'the breath of the Holy Spirit' lifting the 'dust, fallen and dirty.' At the beginning of October of that year he did a retreat in Segovia, close to the tomb of St. John of the Cross, and from then on the theme of the Holy Spirit came out in his considerations with renewed force, as is apparent from the commentary on point 58 and point 755. On his return to Madrid, a few days before writing point 57, he went to see his spiritual director, putting into practice what he would later recommend in this chapter. The conversation must have centered around the Holy Spirit's action in the soul, a theme which St. Josemaría was very conscious of, as we have seen. A simple but deep piece of advice from his spiritual director produced a burst of light in his soul. Returning home, he immediately wrote in his Notebook:
" 'Octave of All Saints - Tuesday - 8 November 1932: This morning, not yet an hour ago, my Fr. Sanchez revealed to me "another Mediterranean." He told me: "Make friends with the Holy Spirit. Don't speak: listen to him." And while I was praying on my way home from Leganitos, my prayer was both gentle and enlightening, and I saw how the life of childhood, by making me aware that I was a son of God, had brought me to love the Father; that, even before that, I had gone through Mary to reach Jesus, whom I adore as a friend, as a brother, as his lover, for that is what I am... Up until now, I knew the Holy Spirit was dwelling in my soul to sanctify it... but I hadn't grasped the truth of his presence. Fr. Sanchez's words were what I needed. I feel Love within me, and I want to get to know him, to become his friend, his confidant... I want to facilitate his work of polishing, uprooting and enkindling... I won't know how to: but He will give me the strength. He will do everything, if I want him to... and I do! Divine Guest, Master, Light, Guide, Love: may this poor donkey make you welcome and listen to your lessons, and be set aflame, and follow you and love you. Resolution: develop, uninterruptedly if possible, friendship and a loving, docile conversation with the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus!...'
"His visit to his confessor led him to re-read Francisca Javiera del Valle's book on the Holy Spirit intensely. He transcribed phrases from it into Notebook 6, and his copy of the book is filled with many annotations of extraordinary spiritual richness.
"The point of this long digression is that it was during his reading of this book and his exploration of this 'Mediterranean' that he wrote point 57. Its message is that we should not just be grateful for the action of the Holy Spirit in our soul, but should develop a personal relationship with the Paraclete, 'the Great Stranger,' so that he remains a stranger no longer. In 1934 St. Josemaría composed the following prayer, which seems to have resulted from the advice he had received ["Listen to him!"] and a supernatural experience ["I have heard his voice"]:
" 'Come, Holy Spirit! Enlighten my mind, so as to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; set my will aflame... I have heard your voice and I don't want to harden my heart and resist, saying, "Later ..., tomorrow." Nunc coepi - now I begin! Now! - lest there be no tomorrow for me.
" 'O Spirit of truth and wisdom, Spirit of understanding and counsel, Spirit of joy and peace! I want whatever you want. I want it because you want it, I want it however you want it, I want it whenever you want it ...'
"This was the first time St. Josemaría used the expression 'The Great Stranger' to describe the Holy Spirit. It was to become characteristic of his spiritual language. See the homily of the same name. It has its roots in Scripture and was teased out while meditating on the Decenarium.
" '...is in the centre of your soul': this expression, which in all the Notebooks of his Intimate Notes only appears here, reappears in The Forge on three occasions. It is interesting to contrast them with The Way. Who is in the center of the soul? In this point of The Way it is the Holy Spirit. But in The Forge it is 'God' (932), 'your Father-God' (538), 'Jesus ... is our God' (1016). The three divine Persons are in the center of the soul: 'If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him' (John 14:23). It is the theology of the circuminsessio - the mutual immanence of the three Persons - which is behind this friendly conversation which St. Josemaría proposes for his readers. In a get-together in 1959 he expressed himself thus:
" 'I am getting on, and we old people begin to treat as accidental those things which, when we were young, seemed to us to be important. I am going ahead retaining the essentials, I am getting to a 'synthesis.' And the synthesis is this: in human matters, omnia in bonum and in the supernatural, to speak with the Father, to speak with the Son, to speak with the Holy Spirit. The rest is of no importance.' "
_________
[excerpted from "The Way: Critical-historical edition," prepared by P. Rodriguez of the Josemaría Escrivá Historical Institute]