Words of Light and Hope from Tony Hawes

Words of Light and Hope from Tony Hawes

 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Gal. 5.22,23.

 

From the beginning, the Spirit of God has been understood as God in the midst of men, God present and active in the world, God in his closeness to us as a dynamic reality shaping the lives and histories of men.

The Spirit, in this sense, is something other than God, but God in that manner of the divine Being in which he comes closest, dwells with us, acts upon us.

John Macquarrie, Paths of Spirituality.

 

My own attempt to understand the Holy Spirit has convinced me He is active in precisely those experiences that are very common – experiences of recognition, sudden insight, an   influx of awareness when you wake up and become alive to something. It may be another person, or a scientific problem, and suddenly the penny drops.

Every time a human being cries, ‘Ah! I see it now!’ that’s what I mean by the Holy Spirit.

John V. Taylor, Priestlands Progress.

 

The Holy Spirit is…the manifest Energy of God in the world. He is, moreover, the    indwelling Strengthener who enables man to live righteously in God’s sight; the Guide who leads us into truth; the Revealer of the truths of God; the Consoler in our distresses; the Encourager in our tribulations.

 

Our Lord in His promise of the special coming of

the Spirit stresses His personal and loving attributes.

Carroll Simcox, Living the Creed.

Holy Spirit, re-make me in all my ways,

outwardly and inwardly like CHRIST.

May His likeness be in my face

– not for my own pride, glory, or vanity

– but so that others can see what the loving

presence of CHRIST can do when He is received

into the heart of a sinner like me.

May CHRIST be real to others, through me. Amen.

Harry Ogden, Some Daily Prayers for C of E People.