In John 14, Jesus was giving his final discourse to his disciples. He says If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. Notice he said another Advocate not an Advocate. The first Advocate to the Father is Jesus. Jesus always works with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was and always is at work with Jesus. The Catechism says Jesus and the Holy Spirit have joint missions. When one moves, the other moves along. The Catechism describes it like oil anointed on a person. There is no space between the oil and the skin. If Jesus is the person with skin, the Spirit is the oil rubbed on the skin. Based on this description, we can say we cannot touch Jesus without touching the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself admitted the Holy Spirit works through him. When he was accused to casting out demons by the devil, Jesus replied, But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. A few months ago, I had to talk to a lawyer to consult about a contract. This experience gave me further insight on how the Spirit works. In Spanish and Filipino slang, a lawyer is called an avogado which means advocate. When I talked to this avogado, I saw how he handled my situation. He looked at the contract and told me the weaknesses of the contract and where my risks are. He also told me what changes to make to protect my interests. In the same way, the Spirit looks at our situation and tells us our weaknesses and shows us how we can improve our situation. Spirit Led Prayer
St. Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The most effective prayer is a Spirit led prayer. The Holy Spirit prays for us and in us. The Spirit knows us more than we know ourselves so he knows what we need at a certain point in time. And if we let him pray for us and join him, then we are actually praying according to the will of the Father and the Father will definitely give what we ask for. |
