“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.” The dictionary defines spirit as something that is vital and is the  principal animating force within a living thing. In terms of vitality, the spirit is  needed and is absolutely necessary because it performs an essential and vital function in the living body. Without the spirit, a living thing is unable to function on its own and would be rendered lifeless. In terms of being principal, the spirit is the main, primary and most important element in a living body.  It leads and animates a living body giving it lifelike qualities – it can live, move, breathe. I think the same is true and can be said of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the vital and essential force in our body. It breathes life into us. It moves, instructs and guides us. It helps us to live forever. But unlike any spirit, the Holy Spirit is a person, a real person, the third person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity. And although the Holy Spirit is unable to be seen by the human eye, He can be seen, heard and experienced through the eyes and ears of our heart, as well as through a rock solid faith and unshakable belief in God, through a loving obedience and peaceful surrender to the Father’s will, through silent prayer and confident trust in Christ and through a genuine openness and total abandonment to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and inspiration.  The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. The promised gift that will teach and instruct us in the Way of Christ and remind us all that he taught and told his disciples. We are reminded that in God’s infinite love and mercy towards his special creation, he came down from heaven to lead his children and be with them always but they rejected his loving invitation. Then in the Father’s infinite love and mercy, he sent his Son Jesus to show the world the extent of God’s love for us – just look at the Cross. Although this time God’s invitation was rejected by some it was lovingly accepted by many. After Jesus returned to Heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify our hearts and consecrate us in Truth – God really loves us and desires to be with us always. But if we want to be with God, we must cooperate with his Spirit and allow him to empty us, heal us, renew us, restore us, fill us and inflame us with the fire of his Holy Love.  “Come, Holy Spirit, come!”