Psalm 51:10–12
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
Ahhh…. May! Is anyone else feeling the same feelings of gratitude mixed with anxiety and topped off with a little bit of longing? If you are like me, May breaks the heart open to the full breadth of human emotion as the calendar is filled with the flurry of end of year school activities, graduations, 1st holy communions, confirmations, weddings, dance recitals and Mother’s Day. And then I haven’t even touched on all the beautiful Catholic feast days in May such as Our Lady of Fatima, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and May being the month of our Blessed Mother. Almost like the blooming of new flowers, our hearts burst with the blooming of emotions. In any given day, you may find me with tears from laughter, joy and even a little sadness.
All these experiences had me reflecting on how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, every day in so many ways. It is always moving. As I once heard, it is probably true that the Holy Spirit is the most overlooked Person of the Holy Trinity. As baptized Christians, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Think about that…God dwelling in us?! Whoa! When you pause long enough to really reflect on this, it’s a little overwhelming and very humbling to think about a perfect, all-powerful God residing in our imperfect bodies. It is from this place that we begin to consider what we are doing to honor Him who dwells within and amongst us with our very selves? The breath of life is flowing within, through and all around us. Are we attuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives? From the inside out and outside in?
As a well-known expression of King David’s remorse, I can’t help but think Psalm 51 is also fitting for this time of year. As we possibly feel the mix of sorrow and sadness over the ending of certain periods of our lives, we also long for the Spirit to create something new and beautiful in the next chapters. The Holy Spirit is present to help create that clean heart within us and guide us with our decisions every day. When we begin to tap into the enormity of this, we can’t help but cry out to God to take not this Spirit from us. It is, can and should be the source of our joy every day.
As a little refresher, if you are confirmed, you have received the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord). I used to think these were great and would only come in handy when the big and momentous events of life happened. And yes, although they are present during these times, they are also present in the small, everyday events of our lives. The question is, are we recognizing it?
The Spirit is present as we watch our children graduate and the Spirit is present as we mourn the loss of loved ones. The Spirit is present as we make dinner on the way to another baseball game and the Spirit is present as we mow the grass. The Spirit is present as we both smile and cry at the last dance recitals and the Spirit is present as we both smile and cry at weddings. The Spirit is present as we take a walk on one of the first truly warm summer days and the Spirit is present as we watch the unpredictability of the rain, wind and spring storms.
So, although May may be full of some of the bigger life events, don’t discredit the Spirit moving within your life in the small ways, in between all the big ways. Moving outside yourselves and within.
I pray the Spirit creates clean hearts in all of You as you shed tears of laughter and sorrow during the big and small events of not only this month but every day.
Lifting You in Prayer & Trusting in His Care,
Christine