Episode 05: The Holy Spirit: Our Closest Friend
The Hound of Heaven
An opening mediation
“The Holy Spirit helps us to view others with fresh eyes, seeing them always as brothers and sisters in Jesus, to be respected and loved. ”
“I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’”
“ I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followèd,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside).
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clangèd bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o’ the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden—to Eve: Be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover—
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot ’thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o’ their feet:—
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat—
‘Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.’”
“I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children’s eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
‘Come then, ye other children, Nature’s—share
With me’ (said I) ‘your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mother’s vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured daïs,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring.’
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one—
Drew the bolt of Nature’s secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumèd of the wild sea-snortings;
All that’s born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the day’s dead sanctities.
I laughed in the morning’s eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven’s grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak—
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o’ her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noisèd Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet—
‘Lo! naught contents thee, who content’st not Me!’
Naked I wait Thy love’s uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenceless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o’ the mounded years—
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Ah! must—
Designer infinite!—
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i’ the dust;
And now my heart is as a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsèd turrets slowly wash again.
But not ere him who summoneth
I first have seen, enwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man’s heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields
Be dunged with rotten death?”
“ Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
‘And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught’ (He said),
‘And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited—
Of all man’s clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.’”
In all stories of faith, we see the same pattern. First, God comes in search of us and then we go in search of God. In the poem “Hound of Heaven” Francis Thomas describes how it felt to be pursued by God, who wanted to love him. But Francis, like all of us isn’t ready to accept love:
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind. . . . I hid from him.
Our minds are filled with disappointments, bitterness, and false hopes. We can even train ourselves to believe that we are not deserving of love.
So when pure Love (God) comes looking for us, it can seem scary so we hide. But God doesn’t give up so quickly. He will continue to pursue us though we look for new places to hide.
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue. Still with unhurrying chase, And unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed
It is not a hopeless pursuit. Because God has made us in His image, we will always long for Him, for the divine. Nothing we devise on Earth will ever satiate it.
Eventually, we develop our own hunger for God, causing us to rush towards Him, which is also described by Thomas in the poem:
Naked, I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke! My harness, piece by piece, Thou hast hewn from me, . . . I am defenseless, utterly.
Thus, we begin to take a harder look at ourselves, that we are incapable of saving ourselves, from the ravages of time:
“My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap“
and the accumulation of failed dreams and wrong turns:
“Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist i swung the earth a trinket at my wrist, are yielding; cords of all too weak account for earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.“
God will always respond to our reaching out:
“That Voice is round me like a bursting sea“
Here assuring us that he has always been there, not to take from us but to drive us closer to him:
“All which I took from thee I did but take, not for thy harms, but just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.“
"Rise, clasp my hand, and come!" The Holy Spirit is at work in both sides of this spiritual push and pull. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not know where to turn and thus we would not find God there waiting for us!
Weekly
Prayer
Intentions
To be prayed daily
Pause for some silence
Pause for some silence
The Sign of the Cross
Start by touching your right hand to your forehead, then your stomach, followed by your left and right shoulders while saying "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen"
We stand before you, Holy Spirit (prayer of the Vatican II Council Fathers, 1962)
We stand before you, Holy Spirit, come to us, remain with us, and enlighten our hearts. Give us light and strength to know your will,
to make it our own, and to live it in our lives. Guide us by your wisdom, support us by your power, do not allow us to be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear or favor. Unite us all to yourself in the bond of love and keep us faithful to all that is true. As we gather in your name, may we temper justice with love, so that all our discussions and reflections may be pleasing to you, and earn the reward promised to good and faithful servants. Amen.
Specific intentions:
Lord, help me to open myself up make room for your Spirit and the truth I yearn to hear.
Lord, speak to my heart, so that I may love what is holy.
Lord, bring to me the Gifts of your Spirit, so that my works my bear fruit.
Personal intentions:
Please add your own intentions here.
Our Father:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Glory Be:
Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end, Amen.
Weekly
Journal
Prompt
Weekly Readings
There is a wonderful him whose refrain never fails to lift my spirits "Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I will pray." I love this hymn because it so accurately describes the relationship we have with God. He comes out to meet us and we respond. As we reflect on the Holy Spirit this week, think back on when you would say you have experienced God's presence in your life? What were the occasions and the value of these experiences? Take a few minutes to write down your thoughts on these personal reflections.
Click on the Link to download each of the articles for further reading this week.
Jesus Gives us the Transforming Spirit
Who is the Holy Spirit? Click here to download
Spiritual Therapy
How does the Holy Spirit change us? Click here to download
Sola Fide and the Works of the Spirit
Can man live by faith alone? Click here to download
Weekly Activity:
Challenging Perspective
This week's task is to invite in the Holy Spirit so that we may see our fellow man in a new light.
“I see Jesus in ever human being.”
Last week we learned that Jesus was the perfect example of humanity. This week we learned that the Holy Spirit leads us to increase in our faith and with that increase comes the fruits of the spirit, or the manifestations of that faith. If we believe as Mother Teresa that we can find Christ in other people, then we should also be able to find examples of the Fruits of the Spirit in other people. This week as you go about your week, see if you can spot examples in the people you see around you.
Charity
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Generosity
Gentleness
Faithfulness
Modesty
Self-control
Chastity