CREATING ON PURPOSE UNITY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

invite the Holy Spirit to break open these passages for you in ways that are helpful for you


ā€œI am the vine, you are the branchesā€ (John 15:5). As you ponder these words, let yourself move into a contemplative state of mind and heart and become united consciously with Jesus. Let yourself, the branch, become one with Jesus, the vine. Focus on that intersection point where you, the branch, intersect and become united with Jesus, the vine. Quietly savor the feeling of oneness with Christ who is the Incarnate Word and infinite being. Open yourself to the vastness of the divinity of Jesus, who surrenders himself entirely to you. Taking some deep breaths, surrender yourself humbly to the infinite God who loves you.

ā€œIt is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in meā€ (Galatians 2:20). Open your heart to Christ who lives within you. As in the prayer above, let yourself move into a contemplative state in which you become consciously and silently united to Jesus who lives deep inside you. Savor the feeling of oneness with Christ who is the Incarnate Word of God and who says, as he said to his disciples after his resurrection, ā€œI am with you always, to the end of the ageā€ (Matthew 28:20).

ā€œ[God] is not far from each of us. For ā€˜in him we live and move and have our beingā€™ā€ (Acts 17:26-27). St. Paul, speaking at the Areopagus in Athens, is describing God as the ā€œGod who made the world and everything in itā€ and ā€œwho is the Lord of heaven and earthā€ and the God who ā€œgives to all mortals life and breath.ā€ Open yourself to this vast God who is nevertheless very close to us. Allow yourself to be consciously united with your omnipresent God, in whom you ā€œlive and move and have your being.ā€

ā€œI am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with meā€ (Revelation 3:20). In the first chapter of Revelation, the writer, John, has a vision of the risen Christ. John experiences Jesusā€™ face to be ā€œlike the sun shining in full forceā€ (1:16). When John looked at him, he ā€œfell at his feet as though deadā€ (1:17). But then the risen Jesus announces: ā€œI was dead, and see, I am alive forever and everā€ (1:18). Thus the stage is set for the above sceneā€”the risen Jesus standing at the door, knocking. How can we best respond to Jesus knocking? We respond by opening the door of our hearts with warm hospitalityā€”and by believing wholeheartedly that the risen Jesus truly wants to enter into our hearts and let us be consciously united with him.