The Witness

"And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us.He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts."  (Acts 15: 8 - 9)

The Holy Spirit in us bears witness that we are indeed here and now the children of God.  It is amazing how people from different Christian traditions experience and express this same reality.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in us is the sure guarantee of the life of God in the soul.   We call it sanctifying grace.  It is sanctifying because the function of the Holy Spirit in us is to make us holy.  He convicts us of sin and leads to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  He renews our mind through His living word and makes us conform to Christ and not to the world.  He reminds us what Jesus has taught us through His word and through the Eucharist.  He is also the voice that "speaks in court."  Court here meaning any place where we need to bear witness to Jesus.

O Most Beloved Holy Spirit, fill me with your precious Self.  Fill me also with your gifts.