Prayer to the Holy Spirit

One of the best gifts I received from my mother, Milagros, was a prayer. It reads: Come Holy Spirit/Fill the hearts of thy faithful/And enkindle in them the fire of thy love/ Send forth thy Spirit/And they shall be created/And thou shalt renew the face of the earth.// O God who didst instruct thy Spirit/Grant me by the same Spirit/To have a right judgment in all things/Ever to rejoice through the same Christ our Lord./Amen.// In many difficult situations I encountered, I recited this prayer seeking the intercession of the Holy Spirit – and He oftentimes responded positively.

There is a passage in the Gospel: "They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you think he is offering worship to God". (John 16:2) How many of us have been in a life-threatening situation for the cause of truth?

In 1986, I served as chairman of the Cebu Alliance for Human Rights at the height of murders and assassination of human right workers, left leaning activists and innocent civilians. I led a fact-finding mission in Gaas, a remote village in Balamban town, Cebu Province, Philippines where the murders were more prevalent. With the intention of knowing the truth, I spoke to witnesses and our group even gathered marijuana plants taken from a farm operated by Tadtad members, a notorious group that used machetes to kill their victims. In the three days that we pursued the mission, I prayed to the Holy Spirit – and I felt no fear in the midst of the threat on our lives. When we returned to the city and exposed our findings to the public, we received a report that one of the witnesses we interviewed was killed. At that time, my young family lived in a barangay in Cebu City where anticommunist cadres were armed by the military. They usually gathered at the back of the house we rented – but in no instance did I ever feel threatened, knowing that the Holy Spirit protected my abode.

Why should we not be afraid? The Bible tells us: "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. "(2 Timothy 1:14)

by Mel Libre