There is a lot of confusion about the Holy Spirit out there - some think he's a guru to do all kinds of tricks and acheive spiritual powers. Many believe He's one whose inspirations are guaged upon feelings and sentimentalism. Others think He's merely for the purpose of obtaining spiritual gifts.
There is a sole purpose and reason Christ sends us His Holy Spirit - to make God known to us so that we may love and serve Him and others and inherit, if we persevere to the end, the gift of eternal life.
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us:
CCC #734-736 tells us:
"God is Love" and love is his first gift, containing all others. "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
734 Because we are dead or at least wounded through sin, the first effect of the gift of love is the forgiveness of our sins. The communion of the Holy Spirit in the Church restores to the baptized the divine likeness lost through sin.
735 He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us." This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit.
736 By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." "We live by the Spirit"; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit."
We need the Holy Spirit within us to know, love and serve the Lord and to bring others to this knowledge and love of God too. The Holy Spirit dwells within us through our baptism, placing us in a state of sanctifying grace; this "state of grace" can be lost by mortal sin but yet can be restored through confession.
Opening the Gate
Sometimes we may wonder how we can be sure we are following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and are doing God's will. I listened to a fantastic talk called "The Holy Ghost and Apostolic Zeal" in which the priest gave us some "tools" that will allow us to "open the gate" for the Holy Spirit in our souls. So, I thought I'd paraphrase what I heard. It may all seem as common sense and basic Catholic things to some, but it is an important reminder to many.
"The Tools"
1. We must first and foremost be in a state of grace. If we have committed any mortal or grave sins, we have the utmost urgency to confess our sins to a priest in the Sacrament of Confession in order for one to return to that state of sanctifying grace. As many of the great saints and spiritual writers throughout the history of the Church have told us, when we are in a state of mortal sin, we open ourselves up very easily to be lead astray by the spirit of deception and a persistency in more and other sins which draw us farther and farther away from God. Instead of opening the gate to the Holy Spirit, we open the gate to the evil one in our lives. Being in a state of grace is of necessity to be in conformity with God's will and go the heaven.
2. "If you love me you will keep my Commandments" (John 14:15). The reason God gives us Commandments is to safeguard our souls. Just as parents set up certain rules to live by in their household to ensure the safety of all family members and to preserve the peace and well-being of their home, so God does the same. He is our Father, He loves us, so He gives us Commandments that at the least, if lived by in a state of grace, continue us along the path of salvation. The Commandments of God include all that is passed on through Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church. So this includes believing and living by the theological and moral doctrines and dogmas of the Faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a further explanation about what it means to "keep God's commandments" and goes into greater detail in explaining the Ten Commandments. (Click to right-facing arrow on that page to read on about each Commandment individually). When we begin to follow other beliefs that contradict the truths of our Catholic faith, we are not keeping God's commandments but defying them by our own thus putting ourselves out of communion with the Holy Spirit, despite what we "feel" God telling us to do. If it contradicts the Church's teachings in areas of faith and morality, it is not of God.
3. Keep our inordinate passions and pleasures in check by practicing a few small mortifications each day. Fr. Faber, a great spiritual writer of the mid-1800s in his book Growth in Holiness said that "mortification and prayer are the pillars of the spiritual life." This means that prayer seeks to fill the soul with grace while the other, mortification, seeks to "make room" in the soul for more grace. Little things, in time, will help us immensely in our spiritual growth. Seek to do things such as turning the shower water on cold for a few minutes and offering a few "Glory Be's" or leaving that sugar out of your coffee one day.
4. Prayer. We should already be in a daily habit of praying, but if we are doing these other things listed above, our prayer life will grow and flourish as well, and vice versa. Do not be so concerned about the length of quantity of your prayer time, but be attentive to its depth. A few minutes of prayer time spent fervently and attentively are worth more than many hours spent willfully distracted, tepidly or half-heartedly. The better you pray, naturally and consequentially, the more you will pray because the Holy Spirit will inspire it to happen. And on the flip side, the more you pray - persevere in prayer, the better you will pray! This prayer life, along with the preceeding other "tools," is what will help you discern where God is leading you and what action He is calling you to make in each moment you call upon Him. Each day, make a special act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit that signifies your devotion to doing God's will and being obedient to the Holy Spirit. A prayer is suggested below.
5. Do not act in regards to our fears. One way the devil loves to paralyze the faithful is through fear. He knows it may not be so easy to tempt them to serious sins anymore because they are seriously living out their faith and he also comes to see the commitment of the believer. So what he tries to do is make us not act courageously and not take risks in doing God's will by paralyzing us with fears about the possible outcomes. This fear is also something that may manifest in one who is living a lifestyle of sin and wants to turn to God, but is afraid of the cost of it all. That is a fear from the Father of Lies, Satan.
"You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
6. I would like to add one final "tool" that wasn't in the talk: Humility. Humility is the foundation of all virtue and the spiritual life; any virtue which lacks humility is in vain and seeks to self-inflate one's ego and pride about how generous one is, about how faithful one is, about how pure and chaste one is, and so on... St. Augustine cried, "May I know Thee! May I know myself!" In Fr. Cajetan's book Humility of Heart, he goes on to explain what St. Augustine meant: "And by this prayer, he asked for humility, which is nothing else but a true knowledge of God and oneself...How rarely do we use this diligence and caution to conquer spiritual vices, of which pride is the first and the greatest of all, and which sufficed of itself to transform an angel into a demon!"
St. Pius X's Prayer of Consecration to the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit, divine Spirit of light and love. I consecrate to You my understanding, my heart and my will, my whole being for time and for eternity. May my understanding be always submissive to Your heavenly inspirations and to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, of which You are the infallible Guide. May my heart be ever inflamed with love of God and of my neighbor; may my will be ever conformed to the divine Will, and may my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and You, Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.