Journeying with the Spirit -Part 1 of 8

A few years ago, while living in Paris, I met the man who was the Orthodox bishop of Prague while Czech was still under communist control. Under the communist regime he was employed by the government to conduct state approved religious gatherings. Any meetings held outside of these sanctioned times were illegal. So when he began to conduct catechism classes outside of the sanctioned hours, he was arrested and sent to prison for two years. It was in prison where he met a Jesuit priest, also imprisoned, who, during their daily hour long exercise break took the Bishop through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Bishop reported to me that this was the end of his religious life, but the beginning of his spiritual life.

Imprisonment, a place one would never choose to go, yet the Spirit accompanied my friend and made his prison cell a monastic cell where he was spiritually transformed. The Spirit lives within us and journeys with us, wherever we go.

This is our truth. We are never alone, never without access to the comfort, power and wisdom of God. It’s a wonder isn’t it? The almighty creator and sustainer of all things lives within us. Such awareness moves us to humility as does all true adoration.