Living with the Holy Spirit

When I first discovered the Irish Jesuits' on-line daily prayer space, Sacred Space, they provided an awareness prayer. The prayer asked God to make me more atune to what he, the Lord, was doing around me. It asked that I be more aware of his presence in those with whom I live. Our daily sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit. As we pray the Novena of Pentecost, asking the Holy Spirit to come to us in an abundance of graces, we can ask for the seven gifts of the Spirit and the 12 fruits of the Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is true peace.

I think of the Saints whose memory is honored today: St. Christopher Magallenes and more than 20 other Mexican priests and lay people, including Jose Rios, a 14 year old. All of the Mexican Saints honored today died as martyrs at the hands of an anti-Christian, anti-Catholic government. Besides their courage in the face of torture and execution, these martyrs had a certain peace. It is the peace we wish to each other when we turn and greet our fellow worshippers at the Sign of Peace during Mass. During that bloody era in Mexican history (1920's and 30's), Archbishop Luis Martinez of Mexico City guided his flock with a steady hand. He lived in intimacy with the Holy Spirit. If certain violent events or horrendous natural disasters are shown to us through the media, we can still keep our peace. Martinez wrote: "The first path to peace is faith. In fact, if we lived by faith, we would live in peace." Martinez wrote a classic book called "The Sanctifier" which has been printed many times, and remains a best-seller. In the handy sized book "Secrets of the Spirit" Sister Germana Santos, the editor, gleaned gems about peace and many other virtues written by Archbishop Martinez. I recommend both of his books which are from Pauline Books & Media, .