Photo Caption: The Holy Spirit worked through many of my students. Pictured here is my Godson’s baptism in Montreal.

Seven minute read.

This sabbatical reflection revolves around the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The main theme is that God empowers us through His Spirit. He calls us to a particular work, and in the process, we receive an abundance of grace. The Spirit’s fruitfulness is desirably attractive. He gives us so much life, energy, and vitality. In this reflection, I share several stories where I saw the Spirit work. Galatians 5 speaks to this theme, one of my favourite passages from CCO’s second level faith study titled Source.

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There is no law against such things”

Galatians 5:22

Why Not?

I shall emphasize a key principle: the Spirit guides us. Let me share a story that illustrates this point. I felt God direct me during a trying season. With lots of prayer, I made the courageous decision to return to CCO Concordia a month after my Dad passed away. I participated in outreach part-time.

On one of the days, I saw a young man walk up the steps of the Hall building. The Holy Spirit prompted me to approach him. I stopped and asked if he would fill out a survey. We use a faith-based survey to see if there is any interest in Catholicism. He made time and circled that he was Catholic. His interest in faith was a ten out of ten. Perfect. A Catholic ten? No way. What a promising student.

We ended up meeting with Elias, who desired to take the first faith study. At the time, he searched for community and friendship. He eventually came to every lesson in Discovery and the bridge analogy affected him. In this lesson, he learned that Jesus Christ came down from heaven to repair our broken relationship with God caused by sin. He learned that Jesus became a new bridge, a way for us to be in a right relationship with the Father. It was a simple analogy. It gave him the openness to invite Jesus be the center of his life. He eventually prayed to Jesus, experienced a powerful conversion, and began a daily prayer routine. He grew in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, especially joy, peace, and faithfulness. The Good News changed his life!

The following year, I challenged Elias to lead a faith study. Without reservation, he said, “Why not.” I journeyed with him every step of the way. In the next season of outreach, he booked several follow-ups with people who were interested in Discovery. By the end of the semester, he organized a group and led another peer closer to Jesus Christ. While he led a faith study, he decided to wait the following year to participate in the second level, Source, which talks about the Holy Spirit. That way he could focus on leading his friend to Christ and balance the demands of school.

Elias and I met one on one to grow his leadership ability. We frequented a Korean restaurant in downtown Montreal for our meetings. We talked faith and leadership over their fried chicken.  One meeting, I shared some things about the Holy Spirit. I shared how the Holy Spirit guides us in mission and that we are empowered by God. This was a little introduction into the faith study about the Holy Spirit, as he was not going to take it until the following year.

Then I shared the chocolate milk analogy, which also comes from the Source faith study. Consider that as Christians, we are like glasses of milk. When we are baptized and confirmed, we receive a squirt of chocolate milk. However if we do not activate the Holy Spirit, the chocolate milk just sits at the bottom. However, if we give God permission, if we ask the Holy Spirit to stir up in our souls, then it is like mixing the milk so that it becomes exactly that, chocolate milk.

I said to Elias, “You’ve been confirmed, right?”

“No.”

“Oh woah, wait, have you been baptized?”

“No!”

With a startled face, I was quite shocked. As I sought to understand, Elias thought we could be Catholic by simply believing we were Catholic! The Holy Spirit guided us to have a clarifying conversation. That semester, we were able to get him in contact with Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and he later became baptized and confirmed as a Catholic. I had the privilege to be his godfather. A few months after his baptism, he went on a CCO mission to Scotland. He deepened his love for the Lord. God continues to work through him to this day.

Feeling the Chills

When we do the ridiculous, the Holy Spirit does the miraculous. I worked at the office headquarters for their CCO Store. One of my colleagues empowered me to share words of encouragement with others. This was a great way to engage in the mission of evangelization, even behind an office desk. I shipped faith studies across the country and had regular contact with customers. We used Shopify as our back-office support for fulfilment of orders. There were new things to learn and I often called them for help.

They were always good at answering my questions. While they looked into the problem, I spent time with God. I asked the Holy Spirit for a word of encouragement.? God always delivered when I stepped out in faith. Let me tell you about one time, where I got the word of joy.

“Do you have any more questions?” The Shopify Guru asked.

“No,” I responded. “But I do have a comment.”

“Sure!”

“Sometimes I pray for people during my day. I had a word that came up, for you. The word is joy. I don’t know what that means, but I wanted to encourage you: God wants to give you joy.”

It was silent for about ten seconds. Did I scare her? She probably thinks I am a weirdo. Maybe the phone disconnected.

“Hi, are you still with me? Did you hear that?”

“Oh, yes, yes I am.” Her voice was shaky. “I felt chills all over my body when you shared that word, in a good way.”

Oh thank God she received that word so well.

She proceeded to share, “I can’t believe this. I was struggling so much this year that I am doing some training. My life coach wanted me to seek joy every day. Thank you so much, I really believe God wants me to have joy. This just made my day.”

God did the miraculous in that moment. She experienced the Holy Spirit and the fruit of joy. I just had to step out in faith. Mission is possible even from an office desk. The Holy Spirit wants to do amazing things, wherever we are, even in our day-to-day regular rhythms.

On Fire

The Holy Spirit is the principle agent of mission. He sets us out. I saw the Spirit work powerfully in one of my students at CCO Carleton. His name is Chris and he was a French student. He encountered Christ’s love in his last year. His viewpoint changed when he recognized that his relationship with God was based on commitment and not perfection. We saw leadership traits in him, so I invited him to lead a faith study the following semester. He responded positively to the challenge.

That next semester, he was a hunter of souls. During our time of outreach, we meet with thousands of people. They left contact information and we personally followed up with them. Chris ended up calling more people than I did, and he booked more follow ups than any else that winter. After a few days of impressive results, sitting on the couch looking with amazement, he said, “Guys, I’m on fire…with the Holy Spirit!”

Those words were immortalized in that special year at CCO Carleton. The Holy Spirit activated especially in our student leaders. Chris went on to lead two faith studies and accompanied his friends to experience Christ’s love. It was amazing to see.

I challenged him to a CCO mission later that year. He had his own plans figured out. After his final semester, he was prepared to teach in France. I surrendered that conversation to the Lord. Well, it turns out later in the semester, another mission opportunity in Malaysia popped up. He decided after all to apply. He ended up cancelling his trip to France, went on this Asian mission trip, and had a great experience of evangelization and mission. So much so, that he applied to CCO staff several months afterward. He worked as a staff member for three years, to which point he is now in Brazil with a religious community. He was on fire for the Holy Spirit then as he is now. The Holy Spirit propelled him to mission when Chris gave Him permission. Only the Spirit could compel him; my personal invitation wasn’t enough.

All You Need Is Love

Are you a baptized Catholic? Then you are missionary. We don’t need a degree in theology and we don’t need to read a hundred books on how to share the Gospel. All we need is to have received God’s love. This is the very love that we can then share with others. We are missionary to the extent we have encountered a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is important: there are only people you can reach. God wants to use us wherever we are, however we are.

We’re often tempted to rely on our own efforts and techniques of evangelization. They are not the source and creativity of mission. As Pope Paul VI wrote in Evanglii Nuntiandi, “Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit.” What powerful and profound words!

Pope Paul VI said this too, “It is only your personal and profound union with Christ that will assure the fruitfulness of your apostolate, whatever it may be.” It is our very prayer times and intimate encounters with Jesus that fuel our missionary zeal and drive. Important leadership attitudes, skills, and knowledge are definitely important. However, at the end of the day, the very heart and profundity of mission comes from that intense encounter with Jesus Christ.

I’ve met many students and supporters who don’t feel like they are ready to evangelize. They have not experienced the love of the Holy Spirit! For it is the Holy Spirit that heals and elevates our nature to become sanctified in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that is the love between the Father and the Son, and is poured out for us! It is God’s love. The Spirit is creative, it is energizing, and it is adventuresome. The Holy Spirit is the one that prepares and calls us for mission. The great fruits of living in relationship with the Trinity are worth it: peace, love, and joy, above the others. Who wouldn’t want that? How tragic it is not to experience the wonders of the Holy Spirit!

So what can you do? Open yourself to the Holy Spirit and all that God has for you. When we pray, we receive. When I met with one my student leaders at CCO Carleton, we prayed before every Source faith study. The old leaders guide quoted Cardinal Mercier and his beautiful prayer on Page 13. You can pray it with me now.

O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do. Give me your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and accept all You permit to happen to me. Let me only know your Will. Amen.

This sabbatical reflection is part one of a five-themed series. Click here for the others!