Day 39: Holy Spirit – Guide 

John 16: 13 – 15 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.  All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

“O my children, how beautiful it is! The Father is our Creator, the Son is our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is our Guide…. Man by himself is nothing, but with the Holy Spirit he is very great.” – St. John Vianney

“The good God, in sending us the Holy Spirit, has treated us like a great king who should send his minister to guide one of his subjects, saying, “You will accompany this man everywhere, and you will bring him back to me safe and sound.” How beautiful it is, my children, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit! He is indeed a good Guide; and to think that there are some who will not follow Him. The Holy Spirit is like a man with a carriage and horse, who should want to take us to Pans. We should only have to say “yes,” and to get into it. It is indeed an easy matter to say “yes”!… Well, the Holy Spirit wants to take us to Heaven; we have only to say “yes,” and to let Him take us there.” – St. John Vianney

”A Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit has no difficulty in leaving the goods of this world, to run after those of Heaven; he knows the difference between them. The eyes of the world see no further than this life, as mine see no further than this wall when the church door is shut. The eyes of the Christian see deep into eternity. To the man who gives himself up to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there seems to be no world; to the world there seems to be no God…. We must therefore find out by whom we are led. If it is not by the Holy Spirit, we labor in vain; there is no substance nor savor in anything we do. If it is by the Holy Spirit, we taste a delicious sweetness… it is enough to make us die of pleasure!” – St. John Vianney

Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, is an infallible guide. In our everyday lives, He desires to lead us in obedience to the will of God and His commandments, so we can be gradually transformed into God’s own likeness. He points out the way of growing in holiness with the ultimate goal of eternity in heaven. At every instant, we are challenged to choose God’s will over our own preferences and fleshly desires. When we decide to follow Holy Spirit’s lead, our lives produce abundance of good fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22). On the contrary, falling for the desires of the flesh results in “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like” (Gal 5:19-21).

What fruit am I seeing in my life depending on choices I make?
In my everyday life, am I willingly and humbly saying yes to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, knowing that He wants my greatest good?
How do I discern the Way in which the Holy Spirit wants to lead me? Do I recognize His voice in the midst of the worldly noise?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to be my guide, guide to all Truth! Holy Spirit, I desire to walk in righteousness and to do what is pleasing to the Father. Teach me to be attentive to Your leading and to discern Father’s will for me. Like Jesus, I pray “Father, … not my will, but Thine be done.”

A prayer from Cardinal Henry Edward Manning: “O Holy Spirit of God, take me as your disciple; guide me, illuminate me, sanctify me. Bind my hands that they may do no evil; cover my eyes that they may see it no more; sanctify my heart that evil may not dwell within me. Be my God; be my guide. Wherever you lead me, I will go: whatever you forbid me, I will renounce; and whatever you command me, in your strength, I will do. Lead me, then, unto the fullness of your truth. Amen.”

Other Scriptures:

• John 14:16 I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
• Pslam 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you
• Proverbs 3: 5 – 7 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
• 1 Corinthians 2:10 – 12 For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
• Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
• Pslam 1: 1 -3 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

• Litany of the Holy Spirit
• 500 Praises to the Holy Spirit (Pray a few of them as you can)

Contributed by: Beata Jannova, House of Prayer, St. Jude, Redmond