Episode Transcript  

One

The Spirit Leading

We begin our meditation with an event in Paul’s missionary journey: “They travelled through Phrygia and the Galatian country, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in Asia. When they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to cross it into Bithynia, but as the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, they went through Mysia and came down to Troas. One night Paul had a vision: a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him in these words, 'Come across to Macedonia and help us'. Once he had seen this vision we lost no time in arranging a passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us to bring them the Good News.”

That’s a lot of places, and we don’t need to get bogged down in the geography of this passage. But you definitely get the feel that Paul is being pulled along by the Holy Spirit in really unexpected ways. The Holy Spirit somehow mysteriously “prevents” Paul from going in the direction he’d planned to go. And then uses a vision to call Paul to go in a direction he hadn’t planned on. And throughout, Paul exhibits what we might call holy flexibility, or responsiveness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This has to be part of every Christian’s path to holiness. And it begins with our prayer life.

Two

Why We Need to Be Responsive to the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the great director of the entire providential scheme. He is the Person most associated with bringing all God’s plans for our lives and for the Church as a whole to their fulfillment. Now we don’t know the details of that plan, which means there’s always the danger that we’ll take some bold initiative that’s actually going against God’s plan. And when our plans go against God’s plans, guess which one is going to fail?

Paul’s original itinerary didn’t fit with God’s plan. The Holy Spirit knew that Paul’s work wouldn’t be as fruitful there, so He redirected Him. Here’s the question then: how do we make ourselves maximally susceptible to the Holy Spirit’s redirection? How do we dispose ourselves to the Spirit’s prompting, in order to make sure we’re not continually focused on the wrong things or going in the wrong direction?

Three

Flexibility in Meditation

Flexibility and docility to the Holy Spirit have to begin in prayer. That’s why reading in prayer isn’t like other kinds of reading. In other kinds of reading, we’re trying to finish a certain section of a book, an essay, or a story, and grasp its contents. But when we read for prayer, we’re really using the reading more as a launch-point where the Holy Spirit can lead our minds to show us what He wants to.

 So, as we’re reading, when some spiritual idea strikes us, we should put down the book, and follow the train of our spiritual interest, take that as an invitation from the Holy Spirit to consider some truth, some insight. 

That’s true of any other aid to prayer as well, including the Rosary and this Rosary podcast. If you get a sudden spiritual insight and you’re praying by yourself: stop the podcast, and dwell on that insight until you’ve really absorbed all it has to offer. God is more interested in you getting His point, listening to Him, following His lead, than He is concerned whether you prayed one or five decades of the Rosary.

Remember, aids to prayer are just that: aids to prayer. A book or the Rosary is for the sake of prayer, not vice versa. Don’t be afraid to pause and follow the new course being suggested to you, the way Paul wasn’t afraid to follow the new course given to him in a dream. And then, if your mind starts to wander, and you need help getting your mind back to divine things, open the book again or turn the podcast back on. But be sure to be flexible, and if some new inspiration comes along, don’t be afraid to stop your present course and follow that new one. 

Four

How Do You Know if It’s the Holy Spirit or just Your Stream of Consciousness?

When people first begin meditation, one of the concerns that often arises is this: How do you know when the images or ideas that come to your mind are from the Holy Spirit or just from your own stream of consciousness? How do you know if you’re being led by the Spirit, or just by your own imagination and free association?

The answer is simple: you don’t. But as long as you’re trying to think about divine things, that’s what matters. The point isn’t to get some kind of miraculous divine revelation. The point is to open yourself up to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and He can guide you through your subconscious or imagination just as He guided Paul through a dream. 

The Holy Spirit can work through our natural faculties just as easily as through a miraculous intervention. The point is to try to offer those faculties to Him, and be flexible and docile to where they lead.

Five

Resolution

Every meditation should end with a resolution, a practical takeaway. So here are two possible resolutions from this meditation: First of all, resolve to try to be more open to the different directions the Holy Spirit takes in prayer, specifically by what captures your attention. That is why I always ask Teresa afterward, “What struck you?” In other words, what was the Holy Spirit prompting within you, saying to you?

See this as an opportunity to be open to the Holy Spirit’s revelation. And secondly, resolve to be flexible to the Holy Spirit in practice. Concretely, that means if plans change, or don’t work out, if the direction you planned on going in gets shut off, if a direction you didn’t plan on going in becomes your new assignment, if any of that happens, don’t get frustrated and don’t complain. Just recognize that God knows the plan, the real plan, and if you’re docile to Him, He’ll make sure you keep working towards it, not against it.

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