Matthew Kelly says this is the best book written about the Holy Spirit and it is a book
that will change your life. Hauser calls it a guide to today’s spirituality.
Written while Hauser was beginning to teach at Creighton University in Omaha, this book gives much of his own struggle to develop a deep prayer life. In Chapter One Hauser explains two scriptural models of the person: the self-in-God and a western model called the self-outside
God. These two models are further developed throughout the rest of the book.
The self-in-God model moves the person to place emphasis on internal attitudes rather than external actions; the Spirit initiates all good desires and we listen and respond; the focus is on love of God and others rather than on any reward for the self; emphasis is on union and
love in this life rather than concern about the next life. To be true to our deepest nature, there is the call to be faithful to the movements of the Spirit.
In the self-outside-God model, the soul never doubts the existence of God, but God is seen as existing primarily in heaven, outside the self. In this model, God ‘s presence is seen in a
vague intellectual way. Baptism does indeed confer sanctifying grace and good actions increase grace, but this is never taken seriously and has no practical effect on one’s actions. People are seen as composed of body, mind, and spirit, but this spirit is seen as a human facility, not in touch with the Holy Spirit. All good desires and actions originate from natural capacities, not from the Holy Spirit. “Through efforts flowing only from personal initiative, the individual does good works of
prayer and service all day long, and God in turn rewards these efforts with an increase of grace.”
Hauser presents this question for his readers: “Do I adequately acknowledge the Spirit’s role in the good actions I perform, or do I attribute them only my own initiative and hard work? “ The answer to this question can be the work of a
lifetime.
Each chapter ends with a series of discussion reflective questions, proper for individual study and/or group sessions.
