Surrender to the Spirit, Grow in Chastity

Every day of our lives we make the sign of the cross and declare our faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three divine Persons are one and the same God. The mystery of the Three-in-One and One-in-Three is the greatest mystery of them all. It is a mystery of perfect eternal love. But even though the Holy Trinity is mysterious the Holy Trinity is not far away. God the Father sent the Son into our world as Jesus of Nazareth. After Jesus died on the cross and rose again, he returned to the Father and together they poured forth the Holy Spirit into our hearts. St. Paul cries out “the love of God has been poured forth into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). The Holy Trinity has come so close to us that the very Spirit of God, the very love of God, dwells in us. The Spirit lives in us and gradually plunges us more and more into God. The Spirit opens our eyes to Christ and makes us to trust him more and more. The Spirit turns our attention to God the Father and makes us realize more and more how the Father loves us and knows our needs and cares for us. The Holy Spirit is a mighty wind, a blazing fire, a radiating light. And this Holy Spirit seeks to change us down to the very roots of our being.

The Holy Spirit is a mighty wind, a blazing fire, a radiating light.”

All of our actions and free choices spring from certain psychological and spiritual roots that go deep within us. All of our actions spring from our powers of sensation, feeling, imagination, memory, thinking, wanting, intending, and consenting. The reason it is often so hard for us to change the way we freely choose to act is that the very roots of our free choices and actions are wounded, feeble, and debilitated. This is particularly so as to our free choices in sexual matters. Because the roots of our free choices and actions are damaged, we often find it very hard to control our sexual impulses. Yet we cannot simply choose to fix ourselves since the very psychological and spiritual roots of our choices are what need fixing. For this reason, only God can save us. For only God has the power to touch and heal the inner roots of our free choices and actions. It is the Holy Spirit poured forth into our hearts who works this very deep healing and salvation. (The word “salvation” comes from the Latin term salus which means “health.”) Jesus said, “whoever believes in me, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7:38). This living water is the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:39). As the living water of the Holy Spirit flows up from deep within our hearts it also flows through all the psychological and spiritual roots of our choices and actions. As the Holy Spirit flows through the roots, He gradually heals them and so gives us more and more self-mastery. With the healing of the roots of our free choices and actions, we gradually grow to master our lower appetites and passions. Gradually, good choices, wise choices, choices that lead to deep and lasting happiness become easier and more joyful for us to make. We will never be perfect in this life, and there will always be venial sins. But we can be fundamentally healed and liberated from mortal sin.  But if the Holy Spirit really is present and active within us, healing the deep roots of our free choices and actions, then why do we not change? Or why do we change so slowly? When the Holy Spirit flows from the center of our being through the roots of our free choices and actions, we are not simply passive. Rather, the Holy Spirit endows us with secret tendencies that call and prompt us in our consciences. We might be called to live differently, called to detach from immoral pleasures, called to end harmful relationships, called to use our senses differently, called to give up control of our lives, called to take a risk on God, called to more prayer, or called to other things that are sometimes painful and very difficult. Because of the pain and difficulties involved we often say no to the Holy Spirit. We say no to the Holy Spirit‟s healing work in us. We draw lines in the sand with God. We put limits on what He can and cannot do in us. In short, we resist.

The process of giving up resistance to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to have his way in us is called surrender. The Holy Spirit will do the work. Love will save us. Surrender is the only way. But how does one surrender? It begins with saying to the Lord: “Lord Jesus, I surrender to you_________.” Fill in the blank with anything that comes to mind. In prayer, let us surrender all of our weaknesses, all of our obsessions, all of our sinful attachments, all of our ideas about how life ought to go, all of our control, all of our expectations, all of our fears, feelings, and failures. Let us surrender everything one by one – even our sexuality – to the living and true God. “Surrender to God,” it says in the Psalms, “and He will do everything for you.”

Surrendering to God is a lifelong process. As a help for members of the Confraternity, we have included in this issue a “Prayer of Surrender” that many people have found helpful. May it be for us too a concrete way to surrender to the Spirit and grow in chastity.

By the Director of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity
Dominican Province of St. Joseph