You're listening to the 10-day devotion to the Holy Spirit on the St. Jose Maria Institute podcast.

The prayers and reflections for this devotion are taken from the Handbook of Prayers,

published by Midwest Theological Forum.

This long-standing custom of the church in preparation for Pentecost is an opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit

to strengthen our hearts and make firm resolutions for our interior lives.

In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten my understanding in order that I may know your commands.

Strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy. Enkindle my will. I have heard your voice, and I do not want the heart of my heart against the snares of the enemy, and kindle my will.

I have heard your voice and I do not want to harden my heart and resist saying,

Later, tomorrow.

Right now, lest there be no tomorrow for me.

O spirit of truth and wisdom, spirit of understanding and of counsel, spirit of joy and of peace,

I want what you want, because you want it, as you want it, when you want it.

Day 8 From the Homily, the Great Unknown by St. Jose Maria Escriva.

To live according to the Holy Spirit means to live by faith and hope and charity,

to allow God to take possession of our lives and to change our hearts, to make us resemble

him more and more. A mature and profound Christian life cannot be improvised because it is the

result of the growth of God's grace in us. In the acts of the apostles, we find the early Christian

community described in a single sentence that is brief but full of meaning. And they continued

steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles,

and in the communion of the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. This is how the early Christians

lived, and this is how we too should live, meditating upon the doctrine of our faith until it becomes

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