Spirit of Gentleness: Pentecost Friday
Look: Pełnia ducha (Fullness of Spirit), Beata Kowalewska-Tylka - Source | H/T
Statement about the art, provided by Victoria Emily Jones at her stellar website Art & Theology: [This work of art was on exhibit in] Poland’s first annual Ogólnopolski Konkurs Sztuki Sakralnej (National Competition of Sacred Art, or OKSSa for short), organized by the Fundacji Maria i Marta (Mary and Martha Foundation). The theme was Mary’s motherhood.
The OKSSa jury commented on how this piece shows “the interpenetration of the spiritual and human dimensions of Mary’s motherhood,” the shape of the fiery red cloth evoking the Holy Spirit as dove, and the breast that gives milk signifying Mary’s physical nourishment of her son from her own body.”
Listen: Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Page CXVI - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
I made us a new playlist for Pentecost! You can listen to it here: Holy Ghost: Pentecost 2022
Read: Psalm 69; Psalm 73; Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:14; Galatians 5:25-6:10; Matthew 16:21-28
Prayer to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful,
and enkindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Amen.
Do: Throughout the week I'll be sharing excerpts from spiritual teacher Henri Nouwen as well as my own brief reflections about the way the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in peace, freedom, and power. Read, reflect, journal, and share your own responses with the rest of us in the comment section below.
Empowered to Heal
In and through Jesus we come to know God as a powerless God, who becomes dependent on us. But it is precisely in this powerlessness that God's power reveals itself. This is not the power that controls, dictates, and commands. It is the power that heals, reconciles, and unites. It is the power of the Spirit. When Jesus appeared people wanted to be close to him and touch him because "power came out of him" (Luke 6:19).
It is this power of the divine Spirit that Jesus wants to give us. The Spirit indeed empowers us and allows us to be healing presences. When we are filled with that Spirit, we cannot be other than healers.
-The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen
The Spirit of Jesus Listening In Us
Listening in the spiritual life is much more than a psychological strategy to help others discover themselves. In the spiritual life the listener is not the ego, which would like to speak but is trained to restrain itself, but the Spirit of God within us. When we are baptised in the Spirit - that is, when we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to. The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains.
When we dare to fully trust in the power of God's Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur.
-Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen
And this is where we get to my deepest heart, friends. That we could be a healing presence in this world - and that we actually already exist in this power - stuns my heart into worship. What a gift to live within the healing power of the Creator of the universe, the Messiah Jesus, and the great Comforter Spirit.
You might wonder how this can be true when it seems you still require so much healing for yourself? I understand this question and find deep consolation that in the same way that it's by Jesus's stripes we're healed; our own wounds and weakness that make space for the healing of others. This is what Henri Nouwen means by the description "wounded healer".
Be encouraged again by Nouwen's words: It is this power of the divine Spirit that Jesus wants to give us. The Spirit indeed empowers us and allows us to be healing presences. When we are filled with that Spirit, we cannot be other than healers.
Peace, friends,
Tamara
p.s., If you'd find it helpful to have another person discern with you what the Spirit is speaking in you and how you might be called to act as a healing presence in the world, that's what I do as a Spiritual Director. You can message me here or through the contact form at my Spiritual Direction webpage for more information: https://www.tamarahillmurphy.com/spiritual-direction