The Spirit does not go solo

It is fashionable to say "I am spiritual, but not religious": believing in something, seeking inner peace, without Church or commitments. It sounds free, but falls short. The Holy Spirit does not act only in your private interior, on your own account and risk. He also works, and in a very concrete way, through the Church and the sacraments: there he gives you his grace, teaches you, sustains you. Reducing him to a private experience is keeping only a small part of what he offers. It is not choosing between the interior and the communal: it is uniting both things. The same Spirit who speaks in your heart leads you toward others and toward those channels through which God shares his life.