Tag: holy spirit

Saint of the Month: John the Baptist

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This month’s saint at Mom Things Through Christ is St John the Baptist. This month, we remember and celebrate his birthday. Did you know there are only three people who the Catholic Church honours on their birthday? They are Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist. While all these people had miraculous conceptions, they were not the only ones who did. The reason we celebrate their birthday is because these three people were the only ones to be born without sin in all of history.

How do we know John the Baptist was born without sin? The Gospel of Luke tells of how the Angel Gabriel came to his father, Zechariah, with a message from God, saying “even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:15). And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, there can be no room for sin, since sin separates us from God and the Holy Spirit is God.

But this isn’t something that happened to John the Baptist because he was a special person. He was filled with God’s Spirit because God had important work to do through him, and that was to declare the coming of Jesus and call people to repentance.

How can we fill ourselves and encourage our children to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to do God’s work? If we want to be filled with His Spirit and do His work, we must stay close to God. We can do this by accessing the sacraments: go to reconciliation and receive Jesus in the Eucharist often. We can also read the word of God and meditate on the lives of saints. We should also keep praying, especially inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives. Most importantly, I think we should be sharing these spiritual activities with our children, or at least not hiding it from them.

In this way, we will be models of people working to empty ourselves of selfishness, of impatience, of fear, of all the things that take up the room we could be giving to God. It is a long and ongoing process, but if we keep at it, one day, we will also be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Talking points

  • When did you last feel like God’s Spirit was with you? What was it like?
  • What are some things taking up space in your heart that you could give to God?
  • When was the last time you asked the Holy Spirit to come into your life? Let’s take a minute now to pray together for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

To Such As These: Pentecost

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I write these “To Such As These” posts every now and then to explain some aspect of the Catholic faith to children. I try to use simple language so you can just read it directly to them instead of having to put it into your own words! The category name is inspired by Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

Today, we will be looking at Pentecost and how the disciples were changed by this evet.

If you have any topics you’d like me to cover in this category, pop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list!

Pentecost is probably one of the biggest (if not the biggest) celebration of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Church. This Sunday, we will remember what happened at the very first Pentecost, which was 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.

Let’s travel back in time to that first Pentecost. Jesus had gone up into heaven not too long ago. The disciples heard His words about receiving the Holy Spirit. But the disciples had seen how the authorities had unfairly killed Jesus, their leader. And what’s worse, they were known as Jesus’ followers! The disciples thought that if the soldiers found them, they would have the same fate as Jesus. They were afraid, so they all gathered together in a room and hid.

But then, a miracle happened: the Holy Spirit came into the room and into their hearts. Suddenly, they felt the urge to go out and start proclaiming the good news about Jesus! Because of this, thousands of people decided to dedicate their lives to Jesus that very day, and committed to following His teachings, and spreading the good news as well.

What changed? Did the authorities get less scary? Not at all. Did it make it that the events of a few weeks ago had never happened? No way. What changed was the disciples themselves! They became empowered by the Holy Spirit! Were they still scared? Probably. There was still a very real possibility that they would be tortured and killed because of their love for Jesus. But they went out and began to spread the good news everywhere, even though they faced life-threatening risks by doing so. It wasn’t because they were now suddenly fearless, it was because they now had courage. They did what God told them to do, even though they were scared! And it’s true that some of the disciples were locked away by authorities and many were killed because of the work they did for Jesus, but they knew that these consequences meant nothing compared with God’s reward of eternal life. So they were afraid, but they did it anyway.

You, too, received the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism. If you have been confirmed, you have been sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who has been baptised is called to do the work of God, even when we are afraid. We aren’t threatened with the same things as the disciples had to face, but we might still have to live through some pretty hard things. Maybe people will laugh at us, maybe they’ll stop being our friends, maybe we won’t get what we want if we do God’s work of doing the right thing, loving Him, and loving others. But we need to remember that we have the Holy Spirit to help us through. Anytime you want a little more courage, simply pray “Come Holy Spirit” (the words in the picture above are Latin for “Come Holy Spirit”) and God the Holy Spirit will pour His graces over you! So be brave, be courageous. Be afraid, but do what Jesus asks you to do, anyway.

Talking points

  • Do you think people can be scared and still be brave? Do you know any stories of people who were like this?
  • When was the last time you did something brave? How did you feel afterwards?
  • Think of a time when you felt God telling you to do the right thing, but it was scary. What did you do? What could you do to act more bravely if it happened again?

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

April Monthly Devotion

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April is the month of the Holy Spirit.

Explaining the Holy Spirit to children can be tricky – it can be tricky to explain the Holy Spirit to adults!

I think the easiest way to understand the Holy Spirit, is to focus on what it does. So we can talk about the Holy Spirit’s power to help us witness to Christ, to enlighten us, give us wisdom, and speak to us. In simple words: the Holy Spirit is God who comes to us to guide us through life. He shows us right from wrong, helps us understand God and share God’s message, guides us to make good choices, and can tell us what God wants us to do, if we listen carefully.

I have rewritten St Augustine’s prayer in the image above into simple language to share with younger children:

Dear Holy Spirit, come down and fill up my heart. Make it Your home, and shine your bright and happy light in me.

How would you explain the Holy Spirit to your little ones? Let me know in the comments! I’m interested to see all the different ways we convey God to our babies!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!