RESTORE
This chapter from the BFG Handbook (Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching) presents the gospel through a new "Expression" of God’s Love to RESTORE the Truth.
Chapter 21 from the BFG Handbook (Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching) presents the gospel through a new “Expression” of God’s Love to RESTORE people to the Truth.
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Chapter 21: Temple of the Spirit
The Spirit of great virtue
Follows the Word according to God alone 1
The Word that became flesh 2
Seems indefinable, seems unfathomable
So unfathomable, so indefinable
And yet within it there is form
So indefinable, so unfathomable
And yet within it there is substance
So deep, so profound
And yet within it there is Spirit 1
The Spirit of God is supremely real
And yet within it there is faith
From the beginning to the present 3
The Spirit has always been present
In order to proclaim the source of all things
How do I know the true nature of the source? 4
By what lives within me
The Spirit Who Follows the Word
“The Spirit of great virtue
Follows the Word according to God alone”
In Chapter 21 of the Christian edition of the Tao Te Ching, the focus is on the profound and mysterious nature of the Spirit of God, and how it aligns with the Word of God. The Spirit of great virtue follows the Word, which in Christian theology is most directly understood as Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh (John 1:1-18). The text describes the Word as unfathomable and indefinable, pointing to the mystery of the incarnation of Christ. Although Christ’s nature is beyond full human comprehension, within His divinity is form, substance, and Spirit—each part of Him inseparable from His essence. This reflects the Christian belief that Jesus, while fully divine and fully human, remains a profound mystery that reveals God’s plan for salvation to humanity.
Notice who comes first in the chapter. It is not the Word but “the Spirit of great virtue,” and the very next thing we learn is that He follows. All goodness and holiness belong to the Holy Spirit, yet He does not draw attention to Himself. Jesus described Him in just this way on the night before He died.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:13-14NRSVue
“According to God alone” means the Spirit never adds a second message beside Jesus. Whatever truly comes from the Holy Spirit will lead back to Christ and agree with His words. That gives us a simple test. A voice that pulls us away from Jesus, His Gospel or His Church is not the Spirit of great virtue, however spiritual it sounds.
The Father’s Word and the Father’s Spirit always go together. At the Jordan the Spirit came down on Jesus like a dove while the Father spoke. Where the Son is, the Spirit is; and where the Spirit moves, He points to the Son and teaches us to call God our Father.
“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!””
Galatians 4:6ESV
“From the beginning to the end of time, whenever God sends his Son, he always sends his Spirit: their mission is conjoined and inseparable.”Catechism 743
“Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, “not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living”.”Catechism 108, quoting St. Bernard
Your phone is full of voices telling you who to be: influencers, ads, the comment section, the friend who always has an opinion. Some sound wise, and some even sound spiritual. Chapter 21 gives a simple filter. The Holy Spirit “follows the Word according to God alone.” He never pulls you away from Jesus. So when a voice, inside you or outside, pushes you toward fear, pride or a shortcut around the Gospel, you can let it go. When it leads you closer to Christ, you can trust it.
Try this today: Before you act on any advice today, ask one question: “Does this lead me closer to Jesus or further away?”
The Word Made Flesh
“The Word that became flesh
Seems indefinable, seems unfathomable
So unfathomable, so indefinable
And yet within it there is form
So indefinable, so unfathomable
And yet within it there is substance”
Then the chapter names the Word: “The Word that became flesh.” St. John opens his Gospel with this same Word, who was with God and was God from the beginning, the One through whom all things were made. Then John writes the most astonishing sentence in history: the eternal Word did not stay far off, but came to live among us.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14NRSVue
No wonder the chapter says He “seems indefinable, seems unfathomable.” How can the eternal God have a birthday, a hometown and a mother? We will never get to the bottom of it. Yet the chapter does not stop at mystery. It answers with “and yet”: within this mystery “there is form” and “there is substance.”
Form: Jesus had a real body. He could be seen, heard and touched, and He rose in that body. Substance: He is not a symbol or a teacher’s idea but God Himself, one in being with the Father. The mystery is deep, but it is solid. St. John, who rested against Jesus at the Last Supper, could write:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life”
1 John 1:1ESV
“At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.”Catechism 479
“…the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus “we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see.””Catechism 477
“Substantial Image” means the Son is not a copy of the Father but shares His very being. In Jesus the invisible God takes a face we can know.
Many people today are comfortable with a God who stays vague: a higher power, good vibes, the universe. A vague God is easy to keep at a distance. Chapter 21 does not allow that. “The Word that became flesh” had work-worn hands and a Galilean accent. He ate with friends, cried at a grave and noticed the woman everyone else ignored. When God feels like a blur, go back to the Gospels. There the One who “seems unfathomable” has a face, and He looks at you with love.
Try this today: Read one short Gospel story today and notice one human detail about Jesus: something He saw, said or touched.
Deep, Real and Known by Faith
“So deep, so profound
And yet within it there is Spirit
The Spirit of God is supremely real
And yet within it there is faith”
The passage continues by reflecting on how, despite the ineffable and infinite nature of God, there is tangible substance and spirit within that mystery. This resonates with John 14:26, where the Holy Spirit is described as being sent by the Father to teach and remind believers of everything Jesus has said, giving substance to the abstract teachings of Christ. The Spirit is both real and mysterious, operating in believers’ lives in ways that transcend human understanding, as Paul notes in Ephesians 3:14-18, where he prays for the strength to grasp the immeasurable love of Christ through the Spirit.
The chapter goes deeper still: “So deep, so profound, and yet within it there is Spirit.” The further we go into the mystery of God, the more we find not emptiness but life. St. Paul says only the Spirit can search these depths, and that He shares what He finds with us.
“these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:10ESV
Then comes a bold claim: “The Spirit of God is supremely real.” The Holy Spirit is not a mood, a force or a nice feeling. He is a divine Person, as real as the Father and the Son. Yet the chapter adds, “and yet within it there is faith.” We do not see Him with our eyes. We come to know Him by trusting His word and His work.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1ESV
Faith is not a weaker kind of knowing. It rests on God, who cannot lie. And faith itself is a gift of the Spirit: the very One we cannot see is the One who opens our eyes to believe. So when faith feels thin, we do not try harder to see. We ask Him for more of the gift.
“Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie.”Catechism 157
“Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him.”Catechism 153
You cannot see the signal on your phone, but you trust it with your most important messages. You cannot see a friend’s love, but you can tell when it is there. Chapter 21 says “The Spirit of God is supremely real,” and also that “within it there is faith.” Some days you will sense Him close, in a worship song or a quiet moment in the car. Other days you will feel nothing at all. On both kinds of days He is just as real. Faith is living as if that is true, because it is.
Try this today: If you feel nothing when you pray today, say it anyway: “Holy Spirit, I believe You are here.”
Present from the Beginning
“From the beginning to the present
The Spirit has always been present
In order to proclaim the source of all things”
The Christian perspective further emphasizes that the Spirit of God has been present since the beginning, as the Creator and Sustainer of all things. This aligns with Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus, having received all authority, commissions His disciples to go and make disciples, empowered by the Spirit. The Spirit’s presence, then, is not only in the past but continues in the present to guide and empower the Church, reminding believers that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Spirit’s work is ongoing, always pointing to the source of all things—God the Father, through Christ the Son.
“From the beginning to the present” takes in all of history. In the first lines of the Bible the Spirit of God was already “hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). He spoke through the prophets, overshadowed Mary so that the Word could become flesh, and came down on the apostles at Pentecost. He has never once been absent.
And He has always had one purpose: “to proclaim the source of all things.” The Spirit does not proclaim Himself. He makes known the Father, the source of everything that is, through the Son. That is why the Church’s mission never stops. Jesus sent His disciples out, and the Spirit gave them the power to go.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8NRSVue
Today the same Spirit keeps the Gospel alive in the Church: in the Scriptures, the sacraments and the saints, and in ordinary believers who speak about Jesus. When we share our faith, we are not starting something new. We are joining a work the Spirit has been doing since the first morning of creation.
“At work since creation, having previously “spoken through the prophets”, the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them “into all the truth”.”Catechism 243
“…the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel resounds in the Church, and through her, in the world, leads unto all truth those who believe…”Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 8
“Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit.”Saint Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi 75
Maybe your grandmother prayed the Rosary every night. Maybe a teacher, a coach or a coworker once said one honest thing about God that stayed with you. That was not luck. Chapter 21 says “The Spirit has always been present in order to proclaim the source of all things.” He was working long before you noticed, through people who said yes to Him. Now it is your turn. A short text to a friend who is hurting, or a simple “I’ll pray for you,” can be the next link in a very long chain.
Try this today: Thank God by name for one person who passed the faith on to you, then pass it on to someone else in one small way.
What Lives Within Me
“How do I know the true nature of the source?
By what lives within me”
The chapter concludes with a profound statement: “How do I know the true nature of the source? By what lives within me.” This underscores the Christian belief that the Holy Spirit, living within believers, allows them to know the nature of God personally and intimately. In Romans 8:9-11, Paul explains that the Spirit of God dwells in believers, affirming that through the indwelling Spirit, Christians are able to connect with the divine and comprehend the truth of God’s nature. Therefore, in the Christian understanding, the Spirit reveals the reality of God’s presence and power within the believer, making the deep and unfathomable nature of God accessible and personal to those who receive Him by faith.
The chapter’s final answer is surprising. We do not come to know the source mainly by studying Him from the outside, but “by what lives within me.” Through Baptism the Holy Spirit makes His home in us. St. Paul could hardly believe the Christians in Corinth had missed it.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:16ESV
That is the meaning of the chapter’s title, Temple of the Spirit. A temple is where God lives and where He is worshiped. Your heart, your mind and even your body are now that place. This gives us great dignity, and also a calling: to keep the temple clean through Confession, to feed it with the Eucharist and to fill it with prayer.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20NRSVue
From the inside, the Spirit teaches us what no book alone can teach: that God is our Father and we are His children. He prays in us when we cannot find the words. Knowing God this way is not a feeling we produce. It is a life we receive, and it grows as we listen to the One who lives within.
“The Spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful, as in a temple. In them He prays on their behalf and bears witness to the fact that they are adopted sons.”Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 4
“Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to “know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ.””Catechism 684
“The presence of the Spirit gives Christians a certain connaturality with divine realities, and a wisdom which enables them to grasp those realities intuitively…”Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 119
We spend a lot of energy on the outside: skincare, clothes, the right angle for a photo. Meanwhile the inside gets whatever is left, a few tired minutes of scrolling in bed. Chapter 21 turns that around: “How do I know the true nature of the source? By what lives within me.” The most important thing about you is Who lives in you. You do not have to go anywhere special to meet Him. He is there at the kitchen sink, in traffic, in the waiting room. Just turn inward and say hello.
Try this today: Take a quiet moment today, put your hand on your heart, and pray: “Holy Spirit, You live in me. Teach me who the Father is.”
Living the Chapter
The whole chapter, put into practice
Chapter 21 gives us a way to live from the inside out. We listen to one Word, Jesus Christ, because the Spirit Himself “follows the Word according to God alone.” We let the mystery of God stay deep, while we hold on to what is solid: the Word made flesh, real and near.
We trust the Spirit who is “supremely real” even on days we cannot feel Him, and we join the work He has done “from the beginning to the present.” Above all, we treat our lives as His temple. Our choices, our words and our bodies become a place where others can meet God.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25NRSVue
“Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning.”St. Leo the Great, quoted in Catechism 1691
“Spirit-filled evangelizers means evangelizers fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit.”Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 259
Think of the people you see in a normal week: the cashier, the neighbor with the barking dog, the coworker who never smiles, your own family at the end of a long day. Each of them is made for God, and you carry His Spirit into every one of those moments. You do not need a pulpit. Chapter 21 says we know God “by what lives within me,” and others can begin to know Him by what they see living in you: patience, kindness, and a quiet joy that does not depend on the day going well.
Try this today: Choose one ordinary place you will be this week, and ask the Holy Spirit to let one person there meet His kindness through you.
RENEWAL
The Trinitarian M.A.P. is the method for RENEWAL, where God’s Love shapes our MINDSET, Trust in the Son directs our AIM, and Faith in the Holy Spirit guides our PRACTICE.
This chapter offers a new “Method” for the New Evangelization to RENEW our hearts and minds through the Trinitarian M.A.P. Bring this chapter into your day with the BFG Companion App. Pick Chapter 21 and an area of your life, and get Guidance made for you.
Renewal starts with the question of who we listen to. Chapter 21 opens, “The Spirit of great virtue follows the Word according to God alone.” Even the Holy Spirit does not go His own way; Jesus said the Spirit “will not speak on his own” (John 16:13). Our minds are pulled by a hundred voices: feeds, headlines, opinions, the worried voice in our own head. A renewed mind does what the Spirit does. It tunes in to one Word, Jesus Christ, and lets the Father’s love in that Word decide what is true about us and about our day.
The chapter then admits that this Word “seems indefinable, seems unfathomable.” That is not a reason to stop thinking; it is a reason to think humbly. God says, “my thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8). We do not need to have God figured out to be loved by Him. The same Word who is too deep for us “became flesh” and came close enough to touch. So when life does not make sense, the mind can rest on this: God’s love has a face, and it is the face of Jesus.
Try this: When a worried thought keeps looping today, stop and ask, “Jesus, what do You say about this?” Then read one line of the Gospel.
John 16:13NRSVue “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Isaiah 55:8-9NRSVue “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
More Scripture: Psalm 119:105 · Matthew 4:4
A renewed mind needs something to look at, and Chapter 21 points to “The Word that became flesh.” Our aim is not an idea about God but a Person. St. John says the Word “made his dwelling among us” and “we have seen his glory” (John 1:14). The chapter says that within this deep mystery “there is form” and “there is substance.” Jesus had a face, hands, a voice and a name. We can fix our eyes on Him, not on a vague feeling or a feed that changes every minute.
That changes where we aim our days. The chapter repeats “so unfathomable, so indefinable,” as if to say: you will never get to the bottom of Him, and you never need to. We aim at Christ the way a hiker aims at a mountain, walking closer without ever measuring all of it. When plans fall apart or the future looks foggy, we do not aim at certainty about everything. We aim at Him, who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Try this: Pick one Gospel scene today and picture Jesus in it: His face, His voice, His hands. Then ask Him where He wants you to look this week.
John 1:14NRSVue “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Hebrews 12:2NRSVue “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…”
More Scripture: Hebrews 13:8 · 1 John 1:1
Renewal becomes daily life through the Spirit. Chapter 21 says, “The Spirit of God is supremely real, and yet within it there is faith.” He is more real than the phone in your hand, yet you cannot see Him, so you live with Him by trusting. Jesus said the Spirit “lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). Practice starts small: a quick “Come, Holy Spirit” before a hard phone call, a pause before you answer the group chat, a moment of quiet before you sleep.
The chapter ends, “How do I know the true nature of the source? By what lives within me.” Your body is not just yours; St. Paul calls it a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). So we practice living like a temple: guarding what we watch, caring for our bodies, speaking words that fit a holy place. And we listen. The Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16), and little by little we learn to hear that voice above every other.
Try this: Before you open an app or a message today, pray “Come, Holy Spirit,” and let Him go in with you.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20NRSVue “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”
Romans 8:16NRSVue “it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
More Scripture: Galatians 5:25 · Romans 8:11
In short: think humbly, aim at what is eternal, live by the Spirit. Listen to the one Word, Jesus Christ, keep your eyes on the Word made flesh, and live by the Spirit who is supremely real and dwells within you as in a temple.
RESPOND
Renewal brings the transformation of our spirit with ardor, empowering us to RESPOND to the call of holiness and make disciples of all nations. This encourages meaningful dialogue to embrace shared truths that transcend cultural and religious boundaries.
Renewal does not stay inside us. Chapter 21 says the Spirit “has always been present in order to proclaim the source of all things.” The same Spirit who lives in you was given to proclaim, to point every person back to the Father through the Son. You do not have to make up the message or carry it alone. The Spirit who lives within you is already on mission; go where He goes.
In 1983, Saint John Paul II called the Church to an evangelization that is “new in its ardor, new in its methods, new in its expression.” The Gospel never changes. The way we carry it must be alive for our time. Chapter 21 shows why: many people today call themselves “spiritual,” and they need fresh words that show the Spirit is real and always points to the Word made flesh.
Ardor is the fire of a heart that has been loved by God. People feel it before they hear a single word. Chapter 21 ends, “How do I know the true nature of the source? By what lives within me.” The fire is not something we work up; it is the Spirit already living in us.
Use the words people use today: simple, honest and personal. Share your story, not a lecture. Chapter 21 says that within the mystery “there is form” and “there is substance,” so make faith concrete: a real story, a real verse, a real act of kindness.
Meet people where they are: on the phone in their hand. The BFG Handbook and the BFG Companion turn one conversation into a path to Christ and His Church. Chapter 21 says the Spirit has been present “from the beginning to the present.” Our tools do not bring the Spirit; they help people notice the One who is already there.
Use the words people use today: simple, honest and personal. Share your story, not a lecture. Chapter 21 says that within the mystery “there is form” and “there is substance,” so make faith concrete: a real story, a real verse, a real act of kindness.
What my life was like before I really met Jesus.
How He met me, and the moment things began to change.
What is different now, and the hope I carry. When did you first sense that God was not just an idea but “supremely real”?
Meet people where they are: on the phone in their hand. The BFG Handbook and the BFG Companion turn one conversation into a path to Christ and His Church. Chapter 21 says the Spirit has been present “from the beginning to the present.” Our tools do not bring the Spirit; they help people notice the One who is already there.
Every chapter has its own song and is written in a language people of every faith can understand. A doorway for dialogue. Chapter 21, Temple of the Spirit, helps anyone who feels God is far away, or who calls themselves spiritual but has never met the Holy Spirit as a Person.
A friend shares a struggle. Together, pick a chapter and an area of life (start with Chapter 21 when someone feels God is distant or unreal, or struggles to see their body as a gift). In seconds: a reflection, the M.A.P., a saint, a prayer, Scripture, a song and a church nearby. Send it by email, PDF or a share link.
Hard question? Ask it together. Answers are grounded in Catholic teaching, the saints and the BFG Handbook. Talk or type. Try asking together: “If the Holy Spirit lives in me, why can’t I feel Him?”
Pray the Rosary with a guided voice, the daily mysteries and beads that follow along. Pray it with someone, even over the phone. In the Annunciation the Spirit overshadows Mary and the Word becomes flesh, and at Pentecost the Spirit comes upon the Church: the Rosary prays the heart of Chapter 21.
Catholic churches near anyone, with Mass and Confession times, directions, and one tap to add a time to the calendar. Every conversation can end at a church door. There the Word made flesh gives us His Body, and the Spirit who “has always been present” makes Him present on the altar.
Morning, midday and evening prayer reminders, a daily streak and a steady prayer rhythm help a new believer keep going. A daily pause to remember “what lives within me.”
Free to start, no card needed. Read aloud in 48 languages.
One tool that walks with a person from the first question to the church door.
Jesus sent His apostles first to Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Start where you are. Chapter 21 says the Spirit “has always been present,” so He is already at work in the people right around you before you say a word.
- Pray the Rosary together on Pray My Rosary.
- Bless your children at bedtime.
- Share a Guidance with a spouse or child who is struggling.
- Find Sunday Mass times together with Church Finder.
- Read Chapter 21 at dinner and ask: “Where did we notice the Holy Spirit today?”
- Text a verse from your Guidance.
- Ask, “How can I pray for you?” and pray right then.
- Invite a friend to Mass, then go for coffee.
- Send the line: “The Spirit of God is supremely real.”
- Be the calm, kind one.
- Pray on your lunch break with a reminder.
- Start a small chapter group that meets once a week. Begin with Chapter 21, Temple of the Spirit.
- Respect the rules: invite, never push.
- Listen for the moment: “Things have been hard.”
- Offer: “Can I send you something that helped me?”
- Share the Chapter 21 song.
- Ask good questions and really listen.
- Share your three-part story.
- Open Ask BFG together when a question comes up.
- When a friend feels empty or far from God, share the line “By what lives within me,” and remind them that God is closer than they think.
- Visit the sick, the elderly and the lonely; pray the Rosary with them.
- Serve at a food bank.
- Welcome newcomers at Mass.
- Join your parish evangelization team.
- Ask shops, cafés and offices to display a BFG card with a QR code.
- Offer a short lunch talk on faith at work.
- Business owners: offer the Companion to staff as a free gift, never a requirement.
- Go where people already gather, and be the friendly one who listens.
- Pray quietly for the people around you.
- When a talk turns real, share a Guidance or the chapter song.
- Wear or carry a simple sign of your faith, like a cross or a rosary, that can start a conversation.
- At the gym, where people work hard on their bodies, share that Chapter 21 calls the body a temple of the Spirit, made to honor God.
- Host a Chapter 21 “Temple of the Spirit” night, a Handbook chapter night, a Rosary night or an “Ask Anything” faith night.
- Show the Companion on a big screen and let people try it.
- We did this at our free conference, The New Evangelization in the Age of AI, at Christ Cathedral.
- Share a Guidance, a chapter song or a Scripture card. Try: “How do I know the true nature of the source? By what lives within me.”
- One post can reach someone you will never meet.
- Join a parish or diocese mission trip.
- The Companion speaks 48 languages, so you leave behind something that keeps speaking after you go home.
- In every culture people sense there is more than what we see, a natural bridge to the Spirit who has been present “from the beginning to the present.”
- Your parish ministries, the Legion of Mary, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities, prison, hospital and campus ministries, and mission groups.
- Bring the BFG tools to their work.
You may feel small and unready. But Chapter 21 says the Spirit “has always been present in order to proclaim the source of all things,” and that same Spirit lives within you. You are a temple, and a temple is a place where people meet God. Go with faith. Go with gentleness. Go together. The same Spirit who renewed you now sends you, to point every heart back to the Word made flesh.
Holy Spirit, who follows the Word and dwells within us, Holy Spirit, set my heart on fire. Jesus, send me to the one You love. Father, make me Your witness today. Amen.
NRSVue © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.