The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (Gal 5:22-23)

I was stuck between writing today about the Book of Job or the Letter the Galatians. My sunnier side won the day so I will write another time about the “woe is me” and talk more about living within the providence of God’s love. Time is such a funny thing for many of us. We live by time, we relax, rush, work and sleep by time. We look at the clock impatiently for it to move more quickly and we fret when the hours seem to slip by too rapidly to finish a project or when fun is happening. We know and want patience in our lives and yet we never wish to practice it when the time comes when it is most needed.
And then the world chooses to conspire against you in the time we have. This past week has been rough. We continue to be limited by what we can do as a Church by the ongoing pandemic and then the fires came to the Bay Area and this limited us even further in our ability to serve, gather and do the normal activities that are keeping us just a little bit sane. (Yes, there is a little “woe is me”) We had to cancel some outdoor Masses over the weekend as the air quality reached a level that was unhealthy.
As I have written before, my priest retreat took place the week before the lockdown began and during the retreat I focused in prayer on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. I have continue to sit with the Holy Spirit over these past months seeking to be filled with God’s gifts of the Spirit and water and cultivate the fruits promised. Sitting with the Holy Spirit isn’t always a fun thing to do…He pushes you to move, to unstick yourself from whatever it is you are struggling with in your spiritual life (or in life in general) On Sunday morning I sat there uncomfortable. I was asking why all this pushing, prodding when I was seeking the patience to endure another setback, another wrinkle, another frustration in our journey back to being Church in a normal manner. And then I was given this word, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” (Jn 16:13) The small reflection I was reading reminded me of two very important things…First: Patience isn’t just about what is around you but also with who you are. Second; Patience is not about just waiting but it is about trusting.
It is about trusting in the Spirit to guide you on the path of faith, hope and love and if you are seeking the Spirit’s guidance by opening you mind and heart, hearing the voice of the Church, placing yourself within the community than you must move, you must get unstuck, you must be blown by the breath of Divine Love into the place God desires you to be.

That’s the easy part because with practice it becomes more natural…what’s the hard part? Well it is waiting and working through all the missteps and failures…all the sin…to come to the place of peace and joy.
We are still in the middle of all of this and the decisions we make as individuals, families and Church can often look like a disaster is surrounding us and the hazy smoke filled air chokes are breath, but sitting with the Holy Spirit, trusting in the goodness of God helps us to move forward even when the way is not clear and the path not straight. It is as individuals, families and Church we are able to see more clearly because we are surrounded by saints…or at least saints in progress.
Please pray for your Bishops, your priests, religious sisters and the lay leaders of our Church to have the confidence to sit with the Holy Spirit and tastes the fruits promised.
God bless
Fr. Mark

The reflection booklet is “Daily Meditations with the Holy Spirit” by Fr. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv.