Let Your Inner Angel Soar: A Guide to a Joy Filled Life

By Deacon Bill Brawner

By the author of Before We Become Extinct; You have made him little less than the angels,and crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8:6 A Guide to a Joy-Filled Life;
How the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit can lead to health, happiness, love and unity

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387303823

Book preview

Let Your Inner Angel Soar: A Guide to a Joy Filled Life

Let Your Inner Angel Soar

A Guide to a Joy-Filled Life

How the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit can lead to health, happiness, love and unity

You have made him little less than the angels,

and crowned him with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:6

Deacon Bill Brawner

©Copyright 2017 The Foundation for Justice and Charity, Inc.

ISBN:

978-1-387-30382-3

Author’s Forward

Once again, my inspiration for these thoughts has been grounded on my years of exposure to Kathryn Y Buckley-Brawner, M.A.A.T., and Diocesan Executive Director of Catholic Charities Agency, Director of Catholic Relief Services and Director of Catholic Campaign for Human Development in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts.  Kathryn designed the Just Life® experiential workshop series to bring the concepts of Catholic Social Justice to teens in age-appropriate formats. I have been involved with the series for years as a volunteer. Her insights into Catholic Social Teaching and her empathetic approach to social justice continue to inspire me.

The catalyst for writing this essay was a pair of retreats that Rev. Warren J. Savage III, a well known mission and parish revival preacher, an Instructor in the Religious Studies Department of the College of Our Lady of the Elms, and an experienced retreat and spiritual director, facilitated during 2008 and 2010 at The Genesis Spiritual Life and Conference Center in Westfield, Massachusetts.

My thanks go out to Margaret Patel for her translation of the Latin epigraphs used throughout this book.

As usual, I have in no way exhausted the topic of how to ‘put on the mind of Christ’ through forgiveness and compassion brought about by an understanding of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. However, I hope that you will be able to use these thoughts as a discussion-starting point in our successful plan to return our spiritual lives to the center of our daily existence, becoming whole-hearted and allowing us to live the Gospel message for all to see and share, thus transforming the world in such a way as to bring about the Reign of God.

Dcn. Bill Brawner

September 1, 2017

Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts

Books by Deacon Bill

Let Your Inner Angel Soar – Lulu, 2017

Walking with Cheetahs – Lulu, 2017

Before WE Become Extinct – Lulu, 2008

Faith & Grace – Lulu, 2008

All books are available through online retailers

I pray that all those who I’ve offended throughout my life forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive all those who have trespassed against me.

Preface

Nemo dat quod non habet

You can't give what you don't have

St. Anselm

How can you imitate Jesus if you don’t know Jesus?

In fact, how can you truly share any experience with someone else if you haven’t really lived it yourself? How?

So, again I ask, how can you imitate Jesus of you don’t know Jesus?

When he returned to join our heavenly Father, Jesus left us with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In turn, the Holy Spirit provides us with seven specific gifts. They all can lead us to a closer relationship with Jesus, and our fellow humans.

It’s our own transforming experience of God’s forgiveness in Christ that empowers us to love and show forgiveness to others. If we don’t [not can’t] forgive ourselves, how can we expect to forgive others? How can we be open to accept and to share the Seven Gifts and all the Graces God showers upon us?

One of the most effective ways to explore the seven gifts is by a daily reflection on the Gospel message, in a constant search for evidence of the gifts in Scripture.

If you are grounded in the Word, by using divine reading [Lectio Divina] for the daily Gospel, you can stay in the ‘compassion zone’ during your whole day.

By using both St. Thomas Aquinas and Pope Francis as our guides, this book is designed to awaken and deepen an interest in the sacred scriptures for a deepening of the spiritual life through study, reflection and prayer, thus leading you to a Joy-Filled Life of health, happiness, love and unity based on the seven gifts of