“In Christ you … were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance.” St. Paul tells us that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the down payment from God giving a foretaste of heaven. In another letter (to the Galatians) St. Paul tells us what it means when we have the Spirit. We are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. As we examine our lives in prayer look for those signs of the Spirit. Where they are present we are experiencing what the life of blessing entails. If any of these fruits of the Spirit are absent (patience!) we know we know where we need to do some work.
