“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,

and kindle in us the fire of Your love.”

If we say this prayer as empty words, not meaning the petition, then….so what?

But, if we mean it when we pray, then….watch out! “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.”  That’s you and me!

What does a heart filled with the Holy Spirit look like? In Luke it looks like Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and faithful old Simeon in the Temple, both seeing beyond what their eyes told them:  This is God in flesh!  Here and now, it looks like an ordinary servant intentionally, quietly, preparing small gifts with gracious agape love.

It looks like John the Baptist preaching repentance and all the believers at Pentecost speaking the languages of all the people. Here and now, it looks like Republicans and Democrats and Independents and Hispanics and Blacks and Whites united as one in worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord.

What does a heart filled with the Holy Spirit look like? In Acts, it looks like Peter preaching before the Council and the believers asking for and receiving boldness for speaking the word of God.  Here and now it looks like a lay person in church leadership modeling grace as the body of Christ deals with a difficult situation.

It looks like Stephen dying as the first martyr and the Pharisee Saul as the scales fell from his no-longer blinded eyes.  It looks like tear-stained faces after a Dying Moments Communion service.

What does a heart filled with the Holy Spirit look like? It looks like Barnabas the encourager on his missionary work to Antioch.  It looks like a young parent or a grown child, empowered by God’s love to care for little ones and elderly ones with compassion and strength.

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful!” Lord, help us when we feel our sufferings stand in the way of that filling.  Help us when we fear letting go of control, when we are afraid of the surprises that will come when we are open to your Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we feel we have suffered so much that we just can’t afford to open up to Your presence.  Help us to hear the rising tide of encouragement in these words from our brother Paul in Romans:  “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  Romans 5:3b-5.

When we pray the prayer to the Holy Spirit, may we be ever open to: