Feline reflections on the Holy Spirit
Monday, August 28, 2023
*Dolores Hanley McDiarmid
If you received the sacrament of confirmation years ago, or if you will receive it soon, the following perspective may prove to be of interest and beneficial in your faith journey.
It was during one of my cat naps that I overheard my human speaking about the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of confirmation. Being a cat, I knew little about confirmation or the Holy Spirit. Fortunately for me, my human had the Catechism of the Catholic Church open to page 325-326 where it informed me about what I now know is an important topic in the Catholic faith.
I learned that the reception of the sacrament of confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For “by the sacrament of Confirmation [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.”
As a human, you are blessed to be able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to help you. You are blessed to have an advocate or a helper to direct you to places that are pleasing to God, and to help you to be a light in the world. It is the Holy Spirit that helps each human “to spread and defend that faith by word and deed” just as the Catechism tells us.
Each morning, the acute and sensitive hearing God gave to me allows me to hear the whispers of my human as she recites a short and simple prayer: “Good morning Holy Spirit, please guide my thoughts, my words and my actions and lead me to wherever is pleasing to God the Father.”
Calling upon the Holy Spirit in the beginning of the day, or any time of day for that matter, has been an integral part of my human’s prayer life for several years. It appears to have had a positive influence in her life and how she behaves (not that she is purrfect.) Even with my occasional naughty moments, she is patient, attentive, and loving to me. I better count my blessings that she asks assistance from the Holy Spirit so she can love me unconditionally, as she does.
I should be more discerning about where my paw steps lead me. As a furry feline, I am not blessed to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit to help me to be a better feline. I wake up in the morning and find I am interested in getting into all sorts of trouble. If I am honest, I must confess that I like going where I have been told not to go, like into the garage where there is an abundance of things to sniff, as well as substances that can be harmful or fatal for me.
My human has told me, for my own good, where I should and should not go. God has done the same for you. When you decide to say something, go somewhere, or do something, most of the time your conscience lets you know if it will be pleasing to God.
There is one major difference between you, a human, and me, a furry feline. If I go to places that are harmful or fatal, it will only affect my physical body. Also, as you may have heard, felines have nine lives, so if I mess up in one life, I have another life to live.
It is more serious for you, as one of God’s creatures with free will, to decide to do something or go somewhere that is unholy and displeases God. Your behavior affects the state of your soul and your eternal life. God has given you only one life. In that life, you have the choice to call upon the Holy Spirit to guide you in all that you think, say, and do.
I understand that the Holy Spirit is waiting for all God’s children to ask for assistance in their daily life. It can be as simple as saying “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Meow, Meow, Meow!
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