Welcome to Truth of the Spirit.  I am your host, Patti Brunner.  This is day 29 of “Daily Meditations for Lent” on Wednesday of week 4. We will share personal revelations given during Lent for you to discern and other contemplations to help you to grow “in closeness to the Lord through truth, repentance, and the word of God moving into fullness within your heart.”

On Wednesday of the 4^th week of Lent the Lord said to me, “My Child, fear not!  My Spirit dwells within you.  My Spirit, The Teacher of Wisdom, shall be with you unto the ends of the earth.  Rely on My Spirit.  He will carry you unto the Father’s bosom.  He will carry you unto the hearts of man to place there my love and understanding.”

Years later the Lord gave me this teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit during the 4^th week of Lent, “When God created man He was one with his creation until man sinned.” The Lord said, “Baptism of water cleanses this sin through God’s gift of salvation; however, the consequence of sin keeps the fullness of the Holy Spirit to be manifest within the being of man.  And concupiscence, that is the yearning to sin again, remains.

“The Lord’s grace is sufficient to overcome these desires but only with the cooperation of a choice of mankind’s free will.  Receiving the sacrament of Confirmation shows the desire to invite the Holy Spirit to enter and remain.”

The Lord said, “As the Holy Spirit enters our heart in Baptism and Confirmation He brings with Him the gifts of grace that can transform our hearts and minds to Jesus as it conforms our souls to once again allow the fullness of God to dwell within us.”

The Lord said, “Most people do not experience with awareness this transformation in their heart but accept it as true by faith.  This is not bad but there is more.  Jesus came to give us not just life but an abundant life.  Just as we are immersed in water as we are baptized to cleanse us from all sin, there is available to all baptized Christians an opportunity to be immersed in the Holy Spirit and thus those areas voided by removal of sin can be filled with grace and presence of God within us.  This choice says, ‘Come Holy Spirit’.  Come Holy Spirit and enkindle in me the fire of your love!  It is as if we have the fire of the Spirit deep within us after Baptism and even Confirmation but the fire is dormant until it is stirred into flame.”  The Lord said, “Studying the scriptures of the promises of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles show us that there is more—always more—to attain of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

“God created us with reason, certainly, but He also created us with at least five senses that he desires us to use to be aware of his presence within us and among us.

“You read in the scripture how the people recognized the presence of Jesus such as when the disciples returning from Emmaus back to Jerusalem proclaimed, “Were not our hearts burning within us?”  And as the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, and the 120, they began to speak in tongues and proclaim the Gospel.  Others, like Ananias, heard the voice of the Lord who directed their actions as they listened with ears with the gift of prophecy to the presence of God within them through gifts of grace by the Holy Spirit.  Some churches, who have broken away from the Catholic Church, profess that these manifestations of the Holy Spirit existed only for the time of the early Church, but the Catholic Church knows that these gifts of the Holy Church has continued these last 2000 years as evidenced by the testimony of many saints and blessed holy men and women recognized by the Church.”

The Lord reminded me, “At the turn of the century in 1901, Pope Leo XIII, who had spiritual phenomena himself by the power of the Holy Spirit, asked his bishops to invite the Holy Spirit to come upon the current generation.  When his bishops failed to follow through, the Holy Spirit manifested in the unlikely place of a small church—not a Catholic Church—in Topeka, Kansas.  Since that time many Christians have been filled with the Holy Spirit.  This awareness began a grass roots explosion and eventually Catholics in the 1960’s also began to invite the fullness of the Holy Spirit to enter their hearts.”  The Lord said, “Pope Paul VI asked for a springtime in the Church to welcome the Holy Spirit, and Pope John Paul II and Pope Frances have been very open to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit available through the request for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit either formally by specific prayer or just a prayer from the heart “Come Holy Spirit!  Vene Sancte Spiritu!”

The Lord said, “Have an episode about the gifts or charisms of the Holy Spirit that are listed in 1st Corinthians, Chapter 12, but know this, the Lord the Holy Spirit is a Giver of Gifts and each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given out of love for us, to help us to grow in our relationship with God and to attain the fullness of the kingdom of God.”

The Lord said, “One of the more unusual gifts is the Gift of Tongues.  It sets aside logic.  The Holy Spirit gives us an utterance of a language—usually a heavenly language to which there is no earthly interpretation—to use to pray with.  Why would God do such a strange thing?  If you are speaking to a foreigner and you need to communicate, it might make sense, but a heavenly language that is more like babbling?

“God, in his great wisdom and love, gives us the opportunity to surrender to Him our voices to pray the perfect prayer without any interference on our part—interference of fear, judgment or pride.  In the Acts of the Apostles this speaking in the Gift of Tongues was a sure sign of the conversion of hearts by followers of Jesus and the Presence of the Holy Spirit.”

The Lord asked, “Why wouldn’t you want the fullness of the Holy Spirit?  Why wouldn’t you want the gifts of grace to penetrate your heart?  Why wouldn’t you want the manifestations of the Holy Spirit to be your constant companions?”

The Lord said to listen to “various scriptures concerning outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Does your heart burn with a fire?  Do you want it to?  Come with me and surrender to God!”

This Lent the Lord has more to tell us about seeking His Holy Spirit.  This is Day 29. We invite you to listen each day for words from the Lord and Daily Meditations for Lent.  Remember: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.”  Easter is coming!  “Prepare for it, ready your heart.”  The transcript of this episode is available at PatriarchMinistries.com/299.  We invite you to subscribe and come back tomorrow for more.  With the Holy Spirit there’s always more.  Amen.