Guidelines for Prayer Holy Spirit Week 2 Good evening!

! Kumusta ang working ng Holy Spirit sa bawat isa sa inyo? Last week, our guidelines is ascension of Jesus. It means Jesus is reunited with the Father in heaven. Why to go? Why did Jesus have to go? Because Jesus wants to open the way for us to also go back to the Father; for us to experience heaven here on earth. And he sent us His Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us. To help us be in heaven; to help us to be happy. Tonight we are preparing to celebrate the feast of the Pentecost. We will deepen more to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The objective for tonights guidelines are: 1. To prepare ourselves in order for the Holy Spirit to work in our lives 2. He has the mission to renew our lives and the lives of the whole Church in order to guide us to Jesus Christ. The title of our guidelines for tonight is from the passage John 20:21, As the Father sent Me, so I send you. Jesus wants us to open our hearts to the mission; to be open to the Spirit. But how can we be open kung wala tay faith? This is one important attribute for the Spirit to work in us. In Hebrews 11:1, To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. Ibig sabihin, faith is believing on the things we do not see. Faith is to see things in a new light, in a new perspective. Why this invitation? Because faith helps us to understand a new meaning, the same meaning that Jesus understood. To understand the call of God, to understand that the mission is not something but its someone. And that someone is the Holy Spirit. The mission is not ours, it is His. The Holy Spirit knows what is the mission. He knows us. He is the help that we need. The Holy Spirit is the mission Himself. Just like when we go to the mission in Musuan, ang Holy Spirit nag una na sa mga puso ng mga tao didto. Just like us now. Bakit tayo nandito ngayong gabi? Wala tayo sa night cafe? I believe in my heart that the Spirit brought us here. The Holy Spirit did not call us by random but He chose us to be here because He is the one who is leading us. He is the one who is helping us. He is called the Helper. One thing is we need a physical helper, and another thing is we need a spiritual helper. Here in our country, marami akong kilala na hindi makakilos kung walang helper, katabang, sakop sa balay. Taga luto, taga laba, taga hugas, taga linis. Pag muhawa na ilang sakop, para silang napilayan. Same is true with our spiritual helper. We need a helper too! Para mag luto sa atong mga hilaw na prayer para mahatag sa atong mga realities, mag laba sa atong gina sul-ob na mga pride, anger, envy, at marami pang iba,

maglinis sa ating mga feeling of incapacity, incapacity to do the mission Jesus has entrusted us. (ex. Pag prepare sa guidelines) Pero, I realized what kind of a helper the Holy Spirit is: He He He He He He is a helper who keeps our lives in order is a helper who keeps us on the straight and narrow path stops us from going astray empowers us draws us into the community inspires us to live the Christian life

Why do we need the Holy Spirit in our lives? In Romans 8: 1-7 (let someone from the audience with Bible to read the passage). Narinig natin sa passage na may dalawang klaseng paglalakbay. There are 2 kinds of walk: 1. Walk of the Spirit; and 2. Walk of the Flesh I-share ko sa inyo yung kinabuhi sa dalawang pinsan namin ni Angel. Two different lives, yet two different walks. I-compare at i-contrast natin yung dalawang paglalakbay. 1. Jong-jong Yung isang pinsan namin, sa araw na ito 14 th year death anniversary nya Namatay sya dahil sa isang vehicular accident Before sya namatay, medical student na sya Ang legacy na naiwan nya sa pamilya- ang journal na puro dasal sa Panginoon, mga poems, at kung bakit nyang maging doctor Hindi para sa sarili nya kundi para sa ibang tao 2. Cacoy Yung pangalawang pinsan namin ni Angel, nasa kanya na lahat Nabibili naman nya lahat ng gusto niya May loving family sya Nag deal with drugs and firearms Na priso sya Nag visit mi prisohan, nagka hepa sya Sa tingin ninyo, alin kaya sa dalawa ang nag follow sa walk of the Spirit? Im sure nakita na ninyo kung alin sa dalawa ang nag follow. You see how important the Holy Spirit is in our lives. My other cousin is physically alive and yet, he is spiritually dead. Samantalang yung isa naming pinsan, nag celebrate kami ngayon sa sementeryo ng death anniversary nya. Yes he is physically dead, but he will remain spiritually alive in our hearts. How about

you? How about us? Saan tayo na belong? Walk of the Spirit? Or Walk of the flesh? How to walk in the Spirit? How? Jesus wants to send us to the mission in the same way as he was sentAs the Father sent me, so I send you. While preparing this preaching, in my prayer iniisip ko, Pano ka pinadala, Lord? Jesus Himself had taught the apostles to wait in prayer. To be sent requires prayer; to be sent requires daily fidelity of His will. It requires our sacrifice; it requires to change our plans. I dont know kung part ba sa plan ni Jesus ang magpakamatay sa cross. Maybe its the plan of the Father only because He asked the Father to take away the cup; to take away the sacrifice that He is about to make. Pero, sinabi din ni Jesus, yet not my will, but your will be done. To be sent is to trust the Spirit in patient prayer even if it means changing our own plans. (ex. Karong buntag, wala gyud to sa plano na dili ko mu trabaho ba. I wanted to quit in preaching, yet someone is talking to me. We hear the voice of the Spirit! Sa sige niya og pressure sa ako, na pressure pud akong blood! Nitaas akong blood pressure! So i had no choice but to finish this mission with the help of the Spirit). And so I realized, the Spirit is the motor of this missionary life that we have! When Jesus went to begin preaching in the temple 2,000 years ago, it says he was moved by the Holy Spirit and He began by saying "The Spirit of the Lord is on me - He sent me to heal broken hearts, give good news to the poor etc (Lk 4:16+). Hindi tayo maka punta sa mission without prayer! Anong ibibigay natin kung wala tayong pabaon galing sa Holy Spirit from our own prayers? When we pray, the Holy Spirit enriches us. Marami syang pabaon na mga gifts, tulad ng: 1. wisdom 2. understanding 3. Fear of the Lord 4. counsel 5. knowledge 6. fortitude 7. piety Im sure meron tayo nito na mga gifts. But how can we use these gifts fully according to Gods plan for each of our lives? In our family? In our workplace? In our community? When we go to mass, we also maintain our walk with the Spirit. As the priest at mass holds his hands over the bread and wine and prays to God to send his Spirit to 'consecrate' them (make them sacred), he's also praying over the people before him in the congregation. Because of that prayer of unity, the Spirit will touch all our hearts so we can all become a 'consecrated' family. Ang kagandahan din nitong Holy Spirit, He makes us as one. (ex. Making the guidelines we as a couple never prayed this long together since

we married, but because of the holy spirit, because of this talk of the holy spirit, we prayed as one.) Para saan itong pag walk sa Spirit? To make this faith we have, however little, grow and strengthened. No matter how hard we try to carry the mission, but without love and faith, we will always falter. To realize that the mission is the one carrying us. Bakit ba natin ginagawa ang isang bagay? Dahil ba kaya natin? Bakit ako ga farming? Because I am capable, di pa naman masakit tuhod ko. Bakit ba ako nagluluto sa bahay namin? Hindi ko naman role yan? Di naman ako ang babae. Because I am capable. But if I do all these things without love, dahil capable lang ako, I will just sound like a noisy gong, a clashing cymbals. Ga saba saba lang ko. But all these, if we put love in everything we do, we will be happy. If we put faith in what we do, we will be fulfilled. Gaano kalaking faith ba ang kailangan to walk the walk of the Spirit? Jesus does not disqualify us if we do not have faith like Jaime Bonet, God will not reject us if we dont have faith like Pope Francis. He still trusts us! He said it only takes a faith as small as the mustard seed! Ganoon lang kaliit. Parang kuto lang kaliit. Pero we will grow to become a big tree with the Spirits help. So, the invitation for all of us tonight is to believe. Have faith! And the Spirit will do the rest! Later as we pray, let us invite the Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit and renew my life. The passages that we are invited to pray tonight: John 20:19-23 Hebrews 11:1 Romans 8:1-7