Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit #7: Love

By Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

Welcome back to Precious Blood Renewal Center for the final week of are reflections about what it means to live in the season of the Holy Spirit

The mission of the Renewal Center is to be a safe and sacred place, offering healing and hope, renewal and reconciliation, for all people. Because of virtual technology, we have expanded that sacred space to sacred cyberspace and are reach even more people. Thank you for joining me across the country for these past few weeks.

Just to do a quick review of what I’ve shared, the seven key words or concepts about what happens when we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We’ve had reflections on these words or key phrases so far:

• Forgiveness, symbolized by Rembrandt’s famous painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son.”
• Unity, symbolized by the Reconciliation Labyrinth on the grounds of the Renewal Center.
• There are different gifts, symbolized by the different sounding bells that are bell tower.
• Intimacy, symbolized by the stained-glass windows in St. Francis Xavier Church, which invites us into an intimate embrace by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
• Empower, symbolized by the flowing fountain in the middle of the lake at the Renewal Center.
• The hand in a glove, symbolizing that the Holy Spirit is the hand working inside us, the glove.

I hope that you carry these words and images with you into the future. All the videos in the series are here: Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s keyword is love.

Jesus tells us that if we really love him, we will keep his commands, not out of fear of punishment, but in order to  show our love and admiration for him, to live up to his ideals.

The greatest gift that the Holy Spirit wants to give the church today is love.

Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans chapter 5 verse 5 that “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”  Whether or not you are aware of it, the greatest desire of our hearts is for God’s love. Only the Holy Spirit can pour forth God’s love.

God’s love is unconditional. It is perfect.  it is satisfying. And there is no end to it. As a preacher God has said to me,”Just tell them that I love them. Tell them again and again and again. Not everyone knows it.”

There’s nothing I can do to make God love me more or love me less. If we put the entire scriptures in three words, they would be “God is love.” The love of God changes us. It frees us. It is a love that is so personal.

I am a beloved son or daughter of God. Let that sink in today!

Have you ever experienced that kind of love?Only the Holy Spirit can open your heart to the love of God. Just be quiet sometime this week and ask the Holy Spirit to pour forth the love of God into your heart. It will stir something in you.

There’s a spiritual that is sung in some black churches that goes: “Something on the inside is working on the outside. Oh what a change in my life.”

The love of God has been poured forth into us by the Holy Spirit

Something on the inside is working on the outside.

Oh what a change in my life.

Let’s conclude this series by singing together:

Holy Spirit, come into our lives.
Holy Spirit, make us truly wise.

Holy Spirit, come into our lives.
Holy Spirit, make us truly wise.

Holy Spirit, come into our lives.
Holy Spirit, make us truly wise.

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery actually experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

Other Video Series:

• Easter Meditations 2020
• Taize Prayers
• Lenten Meditations 2020

This article is being republished. It first appeared on Aug. 6, 2020